Some better excuses (for lack of posts) ...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, it's been DAYS (over a week!) since I last posted.

And here will be my litany of (semi-rubbish) reasons ... or, in other words, my regular kind of post.

So, since I last posted ...

• I've been keeping up with Duolingo, Khan Academy, Typing.com, and a bit of Rosetta Stone.
• I've NOT been keeping up with a habit of reading scriptures ON PURPOSE, definite sincere prayers, writing in my prayer journal, or much of anything spiritual. I mean, I'm TRYING ... but when I fall off the wagon, it takes me a little to get caught back up. #SucksToBeMe
  But I'm going to get back on board.
• I got caught up with the dishes. For, like, a day.
• I started doing laundry again. Just in time, since guess who ran out of underthings?
  ... Well, it WOULD have been me, but thank goodness I did laundry!
• I got to go up and hang with my Sis, Roxy (We call each other "sis," not because we're biologically or legally related, but because we KNOW that, deep down, we HAVE to be family. I mean, really, there's no other explanation for how weird we both are. Which is only compounded when he hang together -- even just chatting on Facebook. It's special. So very, very special.). We went to Powell's and bought books. Then we went to her favorite comic book store and I found the Jem and the Holograms Outrageous Annual. Then we went to eat Thai food. Bubbles was pretty well-behaved. There was one little breakdown when I didn't buy her LEGO or DUPLO, but it wasn't a full-blown tantrum. And she was VERY collected when, as we were driving (slowly), her door slid open. Yup, good times.
  It'd been a while since Roxy and I had been able to hang out. And it's always wonderful to spend time with her.
  On the way home, though, Bubbles had me sing "Tomorrow" (from Annie) about a million times ... and, eventually, she fell asleep for her much-needed (but rather short) nap. It was a good day.
• I got to take Bubbles to a birthday party for one of her friends from church. It was very fun.
  Bubbles is eager to go back for a playdate soon.
• PTC (Parent-Teacher Club) was moved up a day (Unfortunately, not all the parents got the message. Whoops!) and I took notes there.
• Bubbles and I made it to storytime at the library TWICE this week.
• My Visiting Teaching companion and I visited two sisters yesterday. It's always great to get to talk to them. (Yes, Bubbles was good for them. It helps when she plays on my phone. Ha ha.)
• My Mom came up to visit yesterday. And that was good. I taught her some basics in editing a PDF file.
• Bruise decided to switch from the cello to the violin. He actually practiced yesterday! and it'll be easier for him to transport on the bus (Let's face it, the 1/2-size cello is still nearly as tall as he is.)
• Bucket got a comb stuck in her hair last night. (LESSON: Don't comb your hair in bed in the dark. Please?) We got it out without her losing much hair.
• I finished some books. (And I started to take advantage of the fact that my Goodreads app on my phone lets you find (most) books by scanning their barcode.)

This morning, I called the school to let them know that Michael and I will pick up the kids after school (we're going to the pumpkin patch) ... and I got an answer that I'd emailed about yesterday
(long story short: I'd like to volunteer to help out with an upcoming fundraiser during school hours. I had to go to three people to find out if it'd be cool if Bubbles tagged along. Yes. THEN I needed to know what time Bruise and Bucket would be participating, since I'd PREFER to be there at that time. SO, I emailed and asked when [different animal groups, since that's how we keep track of the bilingual groups, since they have TWO teachers, from DIFFERENT continent ... which would be the grade that Bruise and Bucket were in LAST year] had specials (Music/P.E./Technology) ... It wasn't until about five hours later, I was standing in the middle of Fred Meyer and it hit me ... I HAD ASKED ABOUT A DIFFERENT GRADE'S SPECIALS. Whoops. ... So I had to send ANOTHER EMAIL to the gal, apologizing that I'm a complete dork and that I really DO know what grade my kids are in ... and she laughed and gave me the RIGHT time for MY kids' groups. *headdesk*)

And, with that in mind, it was great when the School-Family Liaison (who's a wonderful lady and the other gal's mom, by-the-by) asked me, "So, I'll be seeing you here at school today, then?"

 "Um, I wasn't planning on being there ... why?"

"It's the Jog-a-thon."

"I thought that was on the 30th. Isn't it?"

Then we both had a tense second where we glanced at our calendars and wondered, "What day is it? WHAT WEEK IS IT?!??" And we both started laughing.
Yeah, it's been a bit of a crazy month, so, yeah.

And I'm glad that I'm not expected at school today, since I'm still not showered or dressed.

I keep having really strange dreams.

Wednesday night, I had a two-parter ... I don't recall the other part as much. Mostly a bit surreal. A friend of the family announced that she and her husband were getting a divorce. And it was shocking, since they're both much older. But she assured me that it was fine. "We haven't done much stuff together for years. ... Besides, he'll be dead soon, anyways." O.o (No, that's so not the case in real life.)
But in the MAIN part, Michael told me that he wanted a divorce. And I spent (in my dream) most of the day in a sad funk ... then I finally knelt next to him as he sat in the green chair and tried to address him very seriously, which was hard since he had multiple cotton swabs stuck in his ears and nose (he took them out in a bit, though). And he reconsidered ... because it'd be too hard to pack up all our stuff ... and told me that he'd just been under a lot of stress lately. And we were cool again.

But, in real life, he did have to put up with me asking multiple times, "We're cool, right? You don't want a divorce, right? Because you'd tell me if you were unhappy, RIGHT?!??"

"We're cool. And maybe you should avoid Chinese food before bed. That dream sounded stranger than usual."
(See? He's totes used to my wacko dreams.)

Last night, I endured some crazy dreams, too.
In one, I was a teenager-y babysitter for a lot of kids. And I woke up (in my dream) to find that one front-section of my hair was about six inches shorter than the rest ... and sticking straight out to the side. The rest of my lock was lying on the bathroom counter. (I blame Bucket's comb adventure for that.) ... But I wasn't worried when I woke up, because my hair in my dream was a different color (a medium dark brown).

The other part of my dream was that I was in a hospital/compound-type area, carrying around my (huge, even in real life) purse, and I had to decide whether I was going to desert it (and whether I could chance taking my little, injured (maybe comatose) sister with me when I did ... or would I get caught). And there were people turning into zombies or something. And a lot had their hands cut off, but not the blades on them ... (which dream element is from a factoid that I read from a friend's feed on facebook about this Native American who, in the 1500s, had his hands cut off by the Spaniards ... so, when they came back, he led an army against them, with blades tied to his arms. Hard core, right? ... his name's Galvarino (lots of language in the write-up, be warned), by the by).

But, yeah, it wasn't the most relaxing of dreams.

I'm still trying to deal with the fact that I was unfriended by such a close friend ... but, well, obviously, I was more invested ... and I cognitively know that it's more of a reflection on her than of me. But, drat it if I don't miss her.
And I don't want to block her on Facebook, but it's ... really sad when I see that she's commenting a LOT more lately on posts of mutual friends.

But, yeah. If that's the worst thing that's gone on, I'm sure that I'll get over it. Eventually.

Oh! In happy-making, when I was at Powell's, not only did I find books to buy (like that was a worry. No, it wasn't), but I also found the violet-flavored mints and gum that I'd been really wanting to try ... AND they had some more of the LEGO Movie character keychains ... so I picked up UniKitty in her spacesuit (I already have angy UniKitty and BiznisKitty ... I did ALMOST pick up the seasick UniKitty one, but ... SPACESHIP!!!).
And, when you touch UniKitty's face, her horn will light up. So, when I went to make sure that Space UniKitty's horn works, I was a little shocked (in a good way) that HER HORN LIGHTS UP BLUE!!!

Yeah, it's pretty awesome.

But, yeah, that's most of what's all gone on lately.

Call this my "Zombie Post," 'cause I'm obvs back from the dead!

Dude, way to fall off the blogging bandwagon, there. Sorry for that.

Let's see, what all has happened since I last blogged?

There's too much. Let me sum up.

• Took some meals to people. Arranged a lot more meals for people ...
• We cleaned the church last month. I was the drill sergeant, teaching Bruise and Bucket how to clean the bathrooms. I've got a SYSTEM, you know. It's not the BEST. But it works.
• We had Bubbles' birthday party ... it went well. We used the air compressor to blow up over 150 balloons. We shoved said balloons into the kids' (clean) room as a balloon pit.
  Bubbles also surprised me by knowing EXACTLY how to blow out the candles. She didn't waste ANY time with that.
• Michael and I renewed our Temple recommends. Always an important thing.
  (As I'm trying not to snot all over and drinking herbal tea.)
• Been working at getting over this stupid sinus thing for a few weeks. Fun times!!
  This time, the new thing is that my ear plugged up inside ... so, when I talk, it's like being in a tunnel. I'm not wild about it. 
• Our ward choir performed for Stake Conference. At one point, Michael had to go sit with our kids.
  Another gal I was sitting next to, leaned over and whispered, "Your kids are so well-behaved!"
  "That's because I yell at them. A LOT." I responded back.
  "I don't yell at [her youngest's name]. That's why she's such a little brat." She concluded.
  I had to work really hard not to snicker like a loon, up there in front of EVERYONE.
  This gal is very sweet and soft-spoken ... for her to say that ... it still cracks me up.
• We had a local children's performing arts series. We missed all but this last one -- a wildlife presentation. A group brought a selection of endangered animals/wild animals to show the kids ... you know, to build awareness. Michael was impressed when I correctly identified the kinkajou.  There were also a Fennec fox (oh, I would love one!), a porcupine, a baby alligator, and a boa constrictor. I think that was everything.
  Then we took the kids to the local mall's kids club activity. They had an inflatable obstacle course. Bruise was in HEAVEN. Bucket enjoyed it (with a neighbor girl and a school chum) and then decided she was ready to make the craft.
• My friend, Bri, had a Pure Romance party at her place. I got lost on the way (what kind of a crappy friend am I, not knowing how to get to my friends' place ... especially since they've lived there over a year. *sigh*). It was fun. She's planning another ... so I had to invest in a cute dress (since she wants to do a Breakfast at Tiffanys/LBD theme).
• I volunteered at the kids' school for a day -- just fetching students for hearing assessments. Nothing huge. There was supposed to be another gal to volunteer, but things came up and she never showed up. It was nice. I ended up with a couple blisters from walking all over the school so much (I'm glad it's not a huge school!).
• Like I said, I bought a LDB (which I have to wear over a shirt, but it is nice. And for only $18, I'm not complaining!! I also got new sunglasses and a new bag. Yay for Ross and TJ Maxx, right? And, due to a good coupon, I got a pair of (clearance shoes) at Famous Footwear for $10. And they're really comfy.
• In other coupon-y news, I went to The Body Shop. Between their sale and the card I have, I saved over 50%. Made me happy. More body butters? How can I resist? And I'm liking their lip butters, too. I also got some of those new-fangled curlers over at Sally Beauty ... I had a $5 off coupon, my club card, AND a coupon for 15% off. So it was totally worthwhile to invest in the big pack.
• Michael and I celebrated our 13th anniversary. We left the kids with Mom and Dad C and headed up to Astoria. We stayed a couple nights at a very nice hotel. We went to museums and state parks. I was not the most fun (stupid sinuses = 2.5 hour POWER NAP, plus lots of saline rinses and decongestants!) ... but it was a great time. It was so nice to just hang with my favoritest ... and to be able to mosey through things ... and not change diapers or deal with gimmie-gimmies. ^_^
  (Don't get me wrong! We did miss the kids ... but it was nice to have a break. And they were being thoroughly spoiled at grandma's.)
• Once we were back home, it's just been usual stuff -- housework, taking Bruise to the dentist, RS activity, Visiting Teaching, church, birthday parties, ... the usual.

I've been working with Bruise on his Cub Scouts stuff. I'm hoping to keep the momentum that he can earn his Wolf badge by summer break ... then we can work on his arrow points during vacation. That'd be nice.

We've also fallen behind on memorizing the Articles of Faith. I was hoping that the kids would be through the eighth one by now ... but I think we're still on the sixth. My main goal is for them to have all thirteen memorized by the end of the year. Then I just have to have them recite them every so often to keep them fresh. ... After that, I think it'd be in their best interests to memorize the seminary scripture mastery verses. Just so that they actually DO it. I never did ... and I regret that. It'd be nice to be a Scriptorian.
Well, isn't that why we have kids? So that we have a second chance to do things right the first time? ;P

Okay, this house isn't cleaning itself ... so I'd better go do some housework. And run the errands that I need done. *sigh*

The last two weeks ...

Yes, yes, yes ... it's been too long. And I don't have any wildly wonderful excuses.

(Totally unrelated: Why do I have this CRAZYSTRONG urge to play Myst RIGHTNOW?)

Let's see ... what's gone on ...

So, I last posted on the 21st. It's been two weeks ... There's got to be stuff.

• Not a whole lot really happened that first week after blogging...
  Bruise had a den meeting (FINALLY got things signed off).
  I met with the school Speech Specialist on how to help improve his "vocalic R" ... and to work on his "sh" sounds (since he's missing his front teeth right now, it's all about mouth shape. And that R is all about tongue placement. If we just practice a little, often, we'll be doing fine. If he thinks about it, he does much better. So we just need to get it so he doesn't HAVE to think about it).
• There was the school's Winter Celebration (postponed due to the snowstorm in December).
  Since there are lots of families at the school who don't celebrate holidays, we have a shindig to celebrate FAMILIES. Each child gets a book (Bruise chose one about planets. Bucket nabbed a Nancy Drew and the Clue Crew. I steered her toward that instead of YET ANOTHER Magic Tree House [hey, we have over 20 of those]. Bubbles, being my favorite, let me grab the ONE volume of a series that I was missing [It was kismet, seeing "The River" on the table. Now I have the whole Hatchet series. We're currently just over halfway through "The Hatchet." Now, if we so choose, we can continue Brian's adventures!]) and every family gets a board game (we got ourselves Clue. And I'll be ordering the Master Detective version sometime for Michael. He's YEARNED for it for ages).
  There was also Mexican Hot Chocolate, oranges, cookies, and bottled water in the cafeteria.
  A very nice night.
• After that, we worked at getting ready for Bruise and Bucket's baptism. Lots of cleaning the house ... Mom and I made sure that they had clothes ready (including white underwear ... which they found hilarious. But it was a real thing! You're in a white jumpsuit. If you don't wear white underwear, everyone will see your panties!). Michael gave each of them a blessing the night before their baptismal interview (You meet with your bishop [like a minister/pastor] and he asks questions to make sure that you're ready for baptism).
  Now, Bubbles saw BOTH her siblings get blessings. So, after Bucket and Bruise had their blessings, she hopped into the chair and folded her arms. So she got a blessing, too. It was very cute.
• Monday (the 28th), a friend and I scheduled a playdate for us ... a baking day. She came by and we made cinnamon rolls (We used DandelionMama's cinnabon recipe). I also tried to get her into Firefly, but that wasn't happening. We still had a lot of fun. And the cinnamon rolls were well-received by our families. ^_^
• Tuesday, I got together with another friend. She, her daughter, and her granddaughter met up with Bubbles and me at the play structure at the mall. ... then I mostly tried to clean up the house a bit.
• Thursday, the kids were off school, so I enlisted them in cleaning the front rooms (we planned that we could have a little get-together after the kids' baptism). They worked on the carpeted areas (dining room, great room, living room) and I worked on the kitchen. They also worked on their bedroom ... where Bubbles climbed into the top bunk and fell out, giving herself a big, ol' scratch on her cheek. *sigh*
  It went okay. The deal was, if they worked, we could go to Michael's work the next day.
• Friday, we headed to "visit R" as Bruise and Bucket said (R is Michael's boss). Bruise REALLY wanted to go so that he could play a game of chess with him (There's a chess set in R's office) (R and Michael used to play chess during lunch for a while, but it was too stressful for them both).
  R had quite a few projects to work on, but he told Bruise to come see him about an hour before the workday ended (Fridays are the short day).
  So we hung out a bit, then headed over to Trader Joe's (As Michael puts it, I use my trips to his work as a pilgrimage to Trader Joe's. ... Gotta get my cheese fix!! I picked up my Toscana and, this time, I opted to try the Bacon Cheddar. It was good. I think we like the Chocolate Cheddar better). We hung out in the break room (I read Thursday's and Friday's newspapers ... mostly to spite Bucket, who told me that Michael and I never read the newspaper. Because we don't subscribe to one. We get most of our news online!) ... and Bruise was off like a shot at 11 on the dot.
  R figured that it'd be, at most, a ten-minute game. However, Bruise surprised the lot of us. It took nearly half an hour for R to beat Bruise. (The boy's got a mind for strategy. He gets that from Michael.)
  Then, a little later, the workday was over and we headed home and finished cleaning the house.
• Saturday morning, we took the kids to Home Depot for the free kids' craft (a race car this time. SO MUCH better than that stupid calendar. Even though there wasn't ANY glue, which would have made things MUCH easier. Still, it's free. And we had fun).
  After that, we headed to Costco and Safeway to pick up things for our get-together after the kids' baptism (veggie tray, fruit tray, cookies, flowers) and put things together and relaxed until it was time to get ready.
• I did Bucket's hair (a braid around her head) and combed Bruise's hair. We got all the kids dressed. We grabbed the camera for pre-baptism pictures. We went to the church.
  Turns out that Bruise and Bucket were the ONLY kids being baptised in the Stake (regional area, a group of wards [congregations]) that day.
  We were a little worried that no one from Michael's side would come, but, thankfully, his Uncle D and Grandma C were there. My mom and C, my stepdad, were there. And we had lots of family friends there, too.
  Funnily enough, only Mom and C came over to the house. And they brought KFC for dinner. So it was rather hilarious that I'd made sure to have so much food ready. Murphy's law, right?
• It was a really nice baptism. Michael performed the baptisms. Uncle D and one of our Home Teachers witnessed. Michael voiced the blessing for giving Bruise and Bucket the gift of the Holy Ghost (assisting were C, our home teacher, Uncle D,  and our bishop).
  Bubbles was rather miffed that SHE didn't get to get dunked in the giant bathtub OR get a blessing like Bruise and Bucket, but the Mentos from my friend, Dianne, did wonders for distracting her.
• Bucket gave a talk in Primary on Sunday. She "let" me write her talk for her.
  (I wrote a rough draft, she looked it over and pronounced it "perfect!" ... We ("we," that is) were able to use The Fourth Article of Faith, talk about her baptism, and talk about the Plan of Salvation. She delivered it well. And I told her that she's so lucky to have a mother that writes such good talks. ;P
• Choir has started up again. Our ward will be performing at Stake Choir in ... six weeks or thereabouts. We still need more people, but we've got a good start. And we have a good start on two (of three) songs.
• Yesterday, the kids went back to school and I had a lazy day. Besides chatting with my dad, chatting with my mom, and doing a little online shopping (Hey, I like a good sale on practical things!!) and reading a book (more than halfway through!! If Bubbles will cooperate and take a DANG nap, I can finish it up!).
• Earlier this weekend, I used my Kohls Rewards. I had a bit saved up from getting my enameled dutch oven (with my PREVIOUS Rewards, from getting Michael's suit Black Friday ... see where this is going?), and I managed to get quite a deal! A cast iron frying pan (which is something on my list of wants) originally was $40. But it was on sale for $35. And I found a coupon to take some more off of that. And I had $25 in rewards. So the frying pan ended up costing $8 out of pocket ... plus another $7 to ship ... but a brand-new frying pan for $15? How could I resist?
• Yesterday, after reading for a bit, I knew that I had to make dinner ... and I hadn't planned out anything. So I grabbed a thing of soup mix and made soup. And cornbread. (Which WOULD have been better if I already had that frying pan ... just sayin'.) But it turned out well. And I got dishes done. So it's not like I didn't do ANYTHING yesterday.
• Today, the kids' school is having McTeacher night. So I'm free from dinner duty! Yay!
• Tomorrow, Bruise has his second Pack meeting. He'll be awarded his Bobcat. Then we get to work on his Wolf badge, so he can get his arrow points. (On the one hand, Yay! He's motivated! ... On the other hand, oh great ... more stuff to sew to his shirt. I can manage this. I hope. ... But, really, it's worth it. It's always another step closer to his Arrow of Light in a few years. Then, it's all working toward his Eagle... thing. I'll learn the Boy Scouts lingo eventually.
• Saturday, we should head to a Girl Scouts brunch. We'll see if Bucket is ready for Girl Scouts. She might just opt to do Activity Days. We'll see. (On the one hand = A network of girls growing to be future leaders! On the other = More sewing badges. More money. More meetings ... But, again, it'd be good for her to be involved. We'll see.)

 But, yeah, it's been a little busy. But the house is still rather clean. I'm totally behind in doing the laundry (should get started on that!!) and I am trying to get through library books before I rack up another $16 in fines (yeah, I KNOW).

We should also do our taxes. And all those other fun things about being a grown-up.

But the kids will get to go see a movie with a friend. And we need to finish getting their friend's (belated) birthday present. (Part of it is coming from those Amazon.com elves. The other part we'll pick up at the store.)

And, while they're doing that, we'll be feeding the missionaries. I'll get Michael to text them to figure out what to fix for dinner that night.

And, well, that's most of everything for now.
Besides the fact that yesterday I did ALMOST five minutes on the elliptical.
And I told myself, "Yes, it's rather pitiful. BUT it's five minutes more than you've done for the last three(+) weeks!"

Baby steps, baby steps.
Obviously.

Make your own ... because I'm about THROUGH with responsibility. For the next five minutes or so.

So, mah baaaaaybeees have turned eight.

Bucket burst in on me when I was getting out of the shower (I had on a towel.) to announce that it was her birthday.

Instead of pulling a Mother Goethel like I have been  ("What?? No! Can't be! You just had a birthday LAST year!"), I serenaded her with the song of my people:

Happy Birthday to you!
You live in a zoo!
You look like a monkey...
And you smell like one, too!

Yes, my children are so, so lucky.
(I serenaded Bruise later, as he sat on the couch reading.)

I got SOME stuff done yesterday. Dishes, laundry, cleaning off my desk (it's not CLEAN-CLEAN, but it's a darn sigh better than it was!!), made a grocery list for getting birthday stuff (Bruise wanted to take COOKIES for his class, since another student in his group was bringing cupcakes. Bucket was adamant about cupcakes ... and it's not like I could make them -- food safety and all, so, well, I had to plan accordingly).

I also managed to do a couple non-priority things (thus, sluffing off priorities) -- I printed off nice-looking Articles of Faith for the kids' room and trimmed them (thanks to Michael buying me that paper cutter! Phew!) and put them in the IKEA frames we bought a couple months back for this project.
And I found my hole-puncher. Not the THREE-hole punch, I knew where THAT was, but the ONE-hole punch, so I went through my rewards cards/membership cards and punched holes and put them on a keyring and threw that into my purse.

I found a couple gift cards. One expired. Too bad on that.
The other, from when Bruise and Bucket were born still was good. And it was a $25 one (so I found out). AND I learned that I don't have to find a Baby Gap to use it at ... I can use it at old Navy, if I want! Yay! So that was nice.

And I found the little miniSD card that I misplaced. So I put that where it NEEDED to be ...
Cleaned up the kitchen and got the photos I borrowed from L (Dad's girlfriend) scanned so I can give them back at the kids' party.

Got a call from the bowling alley about the kids' party. Just stuff we needed to know (like we CAN bring ice cream to serve with the cake).

Emailed the kids' teachers about Bruise's assessment with the Speech specialist. Bruise is not eligible for Speech at school. But he does display a vocalic R (when working with him yesterday, it's really the "ar" sound that is most troublesome. There goes his future as a pirate.), but that I would be meeting with the Speech specialist to learn techniques/exercises that should take care of this distortion. ... And, if it doesn't right itself (with our efforts) in a year, THEN he would start Speech.

I also asked about treats for the kids birthday and other parent-teacher stuff. Which is how I knew that Bruise's group needed a non-cupcake treat.
It's not because I'm psychic. Not at all.

I called Michael, after having the kids work on cleaning up the floors (as I tackled tidying up the kitchen counters and a bit of the laundry room), so see about doing a family store-run after dinner (if I got it made in time) before the kids went to bed, so I didn't have to juggle ALL the kids AND fret about dinner AND the kids would be there to pick out what treats they'd prefer.

Well, no, that wouldn't work, since the Home Teachers JUST confirmed that they'd be coming over (which is a GREAT thing, don't get me wrong).
And, since it wasn't on the calendar, I had no idea about it ... and it wrecked my plans ... and I started crying. To Michael. On the phone.

He offered to bring home pizza for dinner (two nights of pizza in a row! And he had pizza for lunch! ... I don't mind eating the same thing often. I could almost be an engineer, according to The Engineer's Guide to Cats ... except Michael, who IS an engineer, NEEDS food variety) ... and either he or I could go out shopping.

So, we ate pizza, finished picking up before the Home Teachers came, had a good visit/lesson with them, put the kids to bed, and I headed out.

I ran over to Costco and almost didn't go in, since it was 8:27 and they close at 8:30. But I put my big girl panties on and grabbed a thing of cookies (they only had Oatmeal Raisin or a variety pack ... and with one kid in the kids' classes allergic to nuts, I wasn't taking chances), Pirate's Booty (that was another option. And Bruise had been craving it), flat pretzels (excellent with hummus and I have a CRAPLOAD of canned garbanzo beans in the pantry), and flowers (for decoration. And people will probably come over on Saturday after bowling ... hence the reason my house SHOULD be cleaned up).

Then, I scurried over to the Mal of Warts (this is what happens when I'm stressed and tired. I come up with crazy names for the Wal-Mart. My other favorite, which I didn't create at all, is Voldemart. Cracks me up every time) ... I picked up more cookies (since they have, like 25 or so students. And the Costco cookies come in packs of 24. D'oh!) and the cupcakes. And extra cookies for when people come over. And folders for stuff that's NOT in their Tuesday folders from school, so I won't get, SAY, a slightly DISSOLVED speech assessment report ... and a new backpack for my boy, who tends to drag his VERY NICE ONE so it's needing a break. And duct tape (because EVERYONE needs duct tape ... and after about five years, my current roll is running out) and moisturizer (because I am like Cassandra [Doctor Who] and I like me some moisturizer. And the last one that I bought didn't have SPF in it. And I'm noticing an abundance of sun damage. Freckles, I can handle, this isn't looking like cute freckles).

And, while there, I ran into a friend and we got to talking since she's not in my ward right now and we've missed each other. So we MMMM-HMMM'ed at each other and I talked to her daughter and we got caught up and swapped cell numbers.

And I finally made it home where Michael told me that I bought too much and that it's not a have-to-cover-every-situation thing, it's a stress thing ... and that I don't need to be stressed.

(But I'm just so dang GOOD at it!)

And we went to bed and I couldn't sleep (and I hadn't had ANY Cherry Coke, so you can't blame that! ... Though I did make cow's eyes at a pint of Cappuccino-flavored gelato ... I just like the smell and flavor of coffee. Blame it on my Nana's giving me coffee candy as a little. It's just so, so good!) so I played a few rounds of Doctor Who: Legacy (like Bejewled, but better and Whovian).

Once Bubbles takes a nap, I can wrap presents. Then Michael'll be home and we'll use a groupon (Pitas/Gyros! Yum!!!!!!) and I'll be ... mostly done.
Then, after their party and subbing at church, I can maybe, relax.

Until I start planning Bubbles's birthday party.
At least I have a FULL month to plan, right?

I'm not dead. I swear!

Okay ... again (like usual), it's been a while since I last blogged.

Which just means that -- hey! -- there's stuff to blog about, right? ... Um ... yeah. Sure.

Okay, so Halloween. Let's start there.
Michael and I were not cool. We didn't dress up at all.
I HAD perused a couple stores to find a decent pirate-hat. No dice.
So, between THAT failure and my gimp ankle, I didn't have the energy or motivation or wherewithal to do anything.

The kids did dress up.
Bruise was a robot-ninja from Power Rangers (No, we don't watch the show. But the costume SPOKE to him. He wanted to be a gold or white ninja -- and we only had red or cobra ninja costumes -- SO.)
Sadly, the mask covered his adorably handsome face, so we think he didn't get AS much candy as previous years.

Bucket opted to be Skelita Calaveras (from Monster High). We did NOT invest in the official costume.
For less money, we got a "white skellington" costume (leggings, long-sleeved shirt, gloves, and wispy grey skirt) AND a pink animal-print skirt (that she can wear as a regular wardrobe item) and I sprayed her hair darker with orange-gel highlights (Instead of dropping another $20 on a wig). And I did her Dia de los Muertas makeup ... which turned out pretty darn well.
(In fact, in all humblebrag, the gal taking pictures at the mall said [and posted on facebook] that they should get me to do facepainting for them ... which kind of freaks me out. Because doing makeup for ONE girl is totally different than doing small bits on MULTIPLE children. Seriously, I got Bucket's hair-and-makeup down to about a half-hour [It'd have been less if I had a stage-type white base. Whenever I'd touch her face (to do eyeliner or anything, I'd have to redo where my finger had been, since the white creme base had rubbed completely off)] ... So, apparently, I need to practice face-painting so I'll have a marketable skill.)

Bubbles was an owl ... in the same costume as last year. And it fit MUCH better.
And she LOVED the trick-or-treating at the mall.
You could just about see her thought-pattern: "What are you telling me? You're saying that if I go up to those strangers with my bucket, they'll just GIVE ME CANDY? Seriously? BEST DAY EVER."
And, since she's a tiny thing, a lot of the folks giving out candy would just hold their bowls out to her and laugh as she grabbed HUGE (for her) handfuls.

So, Michael had come home early from work, which was WONDERFUL. As soon as I had Bucket's makeup done, we skedaddled to the mall. Then we went to a neighbor's house (she ALWAYS has great treats and personally asks us to come by). After that, Bruise and Bucket ran into the house to go through their loot.
We could have gone to a local high school's trunk-or-treat or to a shindig thrown by a local church ... but the kids were happy enough to just go through their candy and eat pizza rolls. So, we did that and watched the Disney version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (complete with bonus Bing Crosby).

Since, as I mentioned, I still have a bum ankle, I wasn't terribly heartbroken that I didn't have to gimp about for the rest of the night. (I'd have sent Michael out with the older ones. Bubbles and I would have just chillaxed and gone to bed early.)

After the kids went to bed, we watched an episode of BBC's Jekyll ... we're now about halfway through it (only six episodes). It's gotten better as it's gone along. (Still there's a bit of language. Which isn't THAT surprising, since it's British ... but, yeah, not for children. Definitely not.)

And that was Halloween.

The next day, Bubbles and I made it to the school assembly (for MOST of the assembly -- Bubbles was NOT HAVING ANY OF IT, cranky girl) to see Bucket receive a Student of the Month Award.
It was much nicer NOT being on crutches for this assembly (as opposed to last month's, where Bruise got a Reading award ... and I was in tears trying to get around. *sigh*).

This assembly was much better organized. (They opted to have the [noisy] Kindergarteners have their OWN assembly. And the 3rd-5th graders had their own assembly in the afternoon in the gym, which is much larger. There were LOTS more places for parents to sit. And the volume level was MUCH better.)

The kids cleaned their room. And they've worked VERY hard to keep it clean. They've made it a WHOLE WEEK. They need to tidy it up today ... but I'm very impressed.

Even though it's been chilly outside, I've been letting them play outside with some neighbor kids most days. Might as well, until it gets too cold, right?

Bubbles isn't very happy about that. I should take her to the play area at the mall, so she can get some wiggles out.

Last week was pretty low-key. We took the kids to a frozen yogurt shop for FHE (Family Home Evening) to celebrate/commemorate Bucket's Student-of-the-Month award (We like to celebrate with ice cream/frozen yogurt).
We cleaned up the house Tuesday. My mom came up Wednesday (and had to leave VERY early Thursday morning). Thursday, I was out late, since I went to a THRIVE (food storage/emergency preparedness supplies) party at a friend's house ... and stayed chatting with her and her friend (now a facebook friend) for about two hours. Good times.
(Seriously, I NEEEEEED to order a #10 can of those pomegranate yogurt bites. Yummmm. And the freeze-dried double chocolate swirl ice cream is rather amazeballs, too. Truly, I was pretty dang impressed with everything I tried. ... So I want to try the freeze-dried asparagus. FOR SCIENCE.)

Friday, Michael and I went out for a lunch date (with Bubbles). Yay for Red Robin (Bubbles LOVES their Sweet potato fries. I can't complain, either! I had the French Onion soup and BTLA (Ham, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and avocado) Croissant. It's my usual. Michael had a craving for French Dip. So, that's what he got. And onion rings to share. (The bacon aioli sauce? Is pretty amazing. ... Yeah, I know. I could never keep Kosher.)

Saturday, the kids had their Primary Program rehearsal (well, not Bubbles, she's too little). We took Bubbles shopping with us. Michael needed new brown shoes (he's TOUGH on shoes. And clothes) and I was on a mission to find high-top Converse sneakers. Not just because they're awesome, but to support my gimp ankle.

We weren't finding anything good anywhere. Which made me pretty pissy for a bit.

We did (FINALLY) go out in the afternoon (after Bubbles' nap) to a local paint-your-own-pottery place to use Bucket's gift certificate she won this summer. And then we used Bruise's gift certificate to get dinner at a local pizza place (We only had to pay for drinks! Nice!)

After that, we headed back to the mall to check another store for high-tops ... and to get Michael's shoes. And I checked at Ross ... and there was ONE pair of Converse that fit and were $20 less than the others I was THINKING of maybe settling for. But I liked these better anyways. (And I now know what size I need, so I can always order a pair online, too. ^_^) So I have shoes that give me a little more confidence when I walk ... since I CANNOT handle being on crutches again anytime in the future.

The kids had their Primary Program on Sunday. Mom, my stepdad, Mom C, Grandma C, and Uncle D all came up (Dad C somehow hurt his foot/ankle. He had better get back on his feet, so I told Mom C, since there's only room in this family for ONE gimp. And I'm it.).
We impressed a brother in the ward, who noticed that we had four generations on one pew (Grandma C, her son [D, Dad C's brother], Michael, and the kids).
I had to introduce my mom in Relief Society (the women's class).
I, of course, did it with subtlety and restraint: " This is my mom, [Mom's name]. She's awesome. I get my awesomeness from her. It's totally hereditary."
It's a good thing that people at church are used to me.

While we were waiting for the High Priests (older men's group) to get done, Bubbles blew kisses to the brethren in there.
One of them mimed that her kisses hit him enough to bonk him against the door frame. And she (and Bruise and Bucket) laughed and laughed.
(For a nearly-two-year-old, she's got a rather sophisticated sense of humor.)

Mom and C (my stepdad) came over to visit and eat lunch before they had to head back home.
Michael and Bruise went and did some Home Teaching.
Then we had choir (and I sang the solo in practice ... and, oh, it was not my best at all. If you're in choir with me, please accept my abject apologies. Did I mention that I'm fighting the plague? It's not the best excuse ... but it's a legitimate one.) and I had a RS Board meeting afterwards ... and Kim (who was giving me a ride home) and I stopped by a friend's house to return her coat ... and help her put a bedskirt on. And then we chatted for a bit ... since that's what we do.

Yesterday was Veterans' Day. My friend, T, and I FINALLY got together. She brought her son, J, over and we all went to a local parade. She and I made Doctor Who jokes and admired the reenactment/vintage clothing. We ran into her sister-in-law (who had marched in the parade ... She's a drummer in my alma mater's band). It was really fun to get to catch up a bit.
Being a grown-up is haaaaard, since you have to work around work schedules (her), kids' schedules (us), and college classes (her). But it's worth it ... when we can make it happen. ^_^

Bruise-ism of the month:
He and I had sat down to read together (out of MY Childcraft books that I got when I was in first grade. And, OH, I love them. They're my precious and I read them a LOT when I was growing up).
I picked the one about "The World and Space."
And Bruise made the observation, "The planets are like islands, space is like the ocean, and the stars are the reflections on the water."

Yup, my boy is a poet.
He's definitely a boy -- loves video games, LEGO, swords, Star Wars ... but he is so tender-hearted and sweet.

Bucket is often a girly-girl -- She's more into dolls and art and fashion (She's a FASHIONISTA). She can be a bit shy, but she can definitely hold her own around boys. She does enjoy LEGO, but she's more into watching shows and reading. And she loves to laugh.

Bubbles is like Bruise in being a people-person. She LOVES music (one reason she loves to watch Daniel Tiger is that there's so much music.She also loves Baby Einstein. And, for a while, when Michael was watching Star Trek episodes, she'd RUN so she could watch/listen to the opening theme of TNG. And she'd be MAD if she didn't get to hear it.She also is our most adventurous eater. She is not deterred by spicy foods. She also KNOWS that she's adorable -- probably since everyone fawns over her.
And, like her mother and sister, she's very into shoes.
(As we were trick-or-treating, we came up to a display window for one of the shoe stores in the mall. And, as Michael had to point out, she was ENTRANCED. "She's YOUR daughter." ... Though, really, in temperament, she's very like her dad. He was a perfect baby. I was NOT.)

I should read through a ton of library books (a ton = maybe ten). And I should get laundry and dishes done. And the living room vacuumed again. And make that THRIVE order. And read my scriptures, say my prayers, plan my Visiting Teaching, plan dinners, go grocery shopping, stop complaining constantly about my stupid gimp ankle ... Yeah. And I should get a shower today. And take a nap, since that blasted cough kept me from sleeping much (and kept Michael from sleeping as well as he could. *sigh*)

I think that's about everything to report for now. Unless I lose 50 lbs in the next couple days or something. (Don't I wish! :P)

A bit of CDC for for ... and how today's gone

So, yesterday was a rather quiet day after all.
Michael set the kids to cleaning their room when they got up ... then he left for work.

I eventually got up, changed Bubbles, fed her, let her play until she was tired again, and had THE TALK of why Bruise and Bucket need to be honest -- we talked about trust and responsibility, of keeping the commandments and WHY we need to do that. I talked again about WHY Michael and I NEED them to be honest ... and, more important, WHY we NEED them to be strong in keeping the commandments, even when it's not easy.

I talked again, in simpler terms, about Stuebenville and WHAT went wrong there. How one boy DID speak up ... but fell back under the pressure from everyone else. And how that poor girl was treated ... how some boys who SHOULD have behaved MUCH better hurt her spirit. And HOW the media acted like THEY were some type of martyr, since they had so much going for them ... and now they're in jail and have ruined their reputation and any future football career.

I can only hope that SOON this will start to stick.

After Michael got home, I watched Bubbles while he had the kids help him with yard work (our "jungle" is looking like a YARD again.) ... And, after I laid her down for another nap, I went to take a nap myself. I read until I was dizzy ... and woke up about three hours later. (And I even DID fall asleep without any medicine last night.)

In my dream, I remember that we had to move into an apartment --- it's always our old apartment. This time, the kids and I were going to be roommates with a couple from our ward (congregation). And I was debating on whether I have the kids finish the school year at their current school, which would mean a LOT of driving for me), or should I transfer them to a school down the street with a bilingual program NOW.

Today, I slept in a bit. Eventually, I pulled myself out of bed and into clothes and Bucket and I went to get her hair cut.
She's been wanting a haircut for about a week, now. She was asking for it to be as short as Bruise's (It's grown out a little ... from a buzz with a #4 guard). Not going to happen. ... But she compromised with a bob. The same bob that has been her go-to haircut since we first cut her hair. Cute little chin-length bob. And, with this one, the hairdresser did help to blend in Bucket's bangs, since they're now so much closer to the rest of her hair length.

She and I also went shopping a little ... I picked up some lotion and some of those nail polish strips (for cheap). We got a punching-toy and a shirt for Bruise. Bucket got some new shoes, a shirt, and glow-in-the-dark nail polish. And we brought back a balloon for each child.
Bucket's nails are painted now -- she requested it as soon as we were home.

After chillaxing a bit (and doing my language lessons online), I finally started tackling Michael's and my MESSY, MESSY room. I worked on the closet.
My shoes are now all on my side of the closet (where Bubbles' bed used to be). As are my clothes.
I put away all the folded clothes. Michael's folding everything else.
We're going to match up all the socks. Then we'll all have socks again. Won't that be nice?

I really want to take a bath and redo my nails now ... but that has to wait. We need to make dinner and put the kids to bed first.

We watched The Life of Pi the other night.
I saw a picture of a tiger on facebook last night ... and all I could think was "Richard Parker."
Yup.

I was going to get together with a Visiting Teaching sister today ... but she never told me a time to come over. So ... yeah. Oh well. I'll get together with her sometime.

Well, I'd better feed those kids of mine.

And, yeah, I wonder what all the dreams about the old apartment mean ... Any ideas?

Starting out behind this year ...

Like usual, here's my chock-full-of-stuff catching-up post!

Okay ... so it looks like I last posted ... over three weeks ago. Whoops!

Let's see ... The kiddos' school had their "Winter Celebration." Which means that we didn't sing any carols ... BUT!! They had a gathering where teachers could read aloud to small groups. And there were books and board games that were given away to all the families (Thanks to a VERY generous group).
Bucket got a (vintage) Pound Puppies book. I don't totally remember which books Bruise or Bubbles got. But they all got a little book. And we got the Headbandz game, which the kids have enjoyed.

We rushed at getting the Christmas shopping done as soon as Michael got his bonus ... and it took us a little while to get everything together. Even though I was working VERY hard to compile a list of who all we were buying for and WHAT to give them.

Michael and I got new phones. And now my old phone (which still works ... mostly) is a toy for the kids. A nice little collection of games on there. And, YES, I really, really like my new phone (Droid Razr Maxx HD. It's nice to have a phone with a great battery life. And that texts people consistently. And that doesn't need to be consistently restarted/factory rebooted).

I also got a new computer chair (on a good sale), which Bubbles and I put together while Michael was at work and the kids had left for school. It's a good feeling to NOT almost fall out of your chair or worry that the arm is going to break off totally, dumping you and the infant on the ground/into the desk.

I helped a friend to set up a blog ... while I was there and we were passing Bubbles back and forth (she needed a nap. And wasn't getting one), my friend asked if Bubbles would like a graham cracker. Which I knew that she would ... so they went to the kitchen to get Bubbles a cracker to nosh on.
While my friend was opening the cabinet, her dog barked. While she was distracted, a can of pineapple glanced off of Vesper's eyebrow as it fell out of the cabinet. Whoops!
It was just a deep scratch. It's almost completely gone without scarring now.
(My friend felt AWFUL. I immediately latched Bubbles on to nurse, to get her calmed so I could look at what was bleeding. I asked my friend, who is a nurse, if it needed stitches. It didn't. So I was all, "Eh. She'll be fine. Let's get her calm and keep her hands off of it so it can clot. If she doesn't need stitches, I'm good."
We put a cool compress on it. It didn't even bruise!)

We did get a day of snow ... but not enough for the kids' school to be closed. It also was the same morning that Michael and I woke up to see that the power was out. He still went to work (since that's FAR enough away not to be affected). The kids and I lit candles (after poor Bruise was FREAKED OUT that the house was dark and none of the light switches worked. Poor guy.) and huddled under blankets as I called (on my old phone which was NEARLY out of batteries ... yeah, before we made the switch) the power company to find when the power would be restored. It came back on before the kids needed to head to school. (Then Bubbles and I headed over to help my friend with her blog in the aforementioned story.)

Michael had really wanted to take Friday, December 21st off. However, there was so much work that it wasn't feasible. So we just planned, anyways, on not heading down to visit family until the 22nd.

We packed that car FULL ... and, since the kids were getting lots of presents, we arrived back home with it FULL. In fact, it was so full, that we couldn't find my camera bag in there until yesterday! (Yeah, we've been busy.)

We visited my Nana, my dad and his girlfriend, and stayed at my mom and stepdad's for a few days.
(My stepdad ADORES Bubbles. He says it's because she's such a mellow baby. We think that it's also because there's only one. Twins can be a little overwhelming. Don't get me wrong ... he loves the older duo ... but he is completely enamored of Bubbles.)
We managed to take the kids to The Festival of Lights outside of Roseburg. I grew up in the Roseburg area ... and in the 18 years that I lived down there, I never managed to go once. But it was really nice. The kids enjoyed it a lot. It's a little spendy at $8/car ... but it was pretty awesome.
I did want to take the kids to the WildLights at Wildlife Safari ... but it was so cold and rainy. So we'll save that for another year.

After lunch and presents on Christmas Eve with my mom, stepdad, and aunt, we loaded up and drove out to the coast to spend Christmas with Michael's family at his sister's house.
We went to dinner at the Sizzler there ... where Bucket threw up. TWICE.
She came to me to take her to the bathroom ... and we raced, her with her hand over her mouth, dripping on the floor. And I ended up with two big splashes of vomit on my pants ... that I could see. AND SMELL.
Then, a few minutes later, she needed to go again ... and that time she didn't make it quite to the toilet.
We were in the bathroom ... but, golly.

As soon as we finished dinner and got back to T1's house, I gathered up the kids and put them all in a bath. I got them all settled in pajamas (with Michael's help ... as he worked at unloading the van as well), and then I jumped in the shower ... and, upon undressing, I found that I ALSO had a patch of vomit on the BACK of my jeans. WINNING. (Not.)

However, I felt a lot more human (and a lot less like curling in a corner and crying for being THAT MOM at Sizzler whose child puked TWICE. Yeah.) ... and we worked at getting the kids to bed and helping Santa with stockings, visiting with family, and getting to bed.

We were awake before any of the kids Christmas morning. In fact, I think we were up before anyone else. So we just chilled until people woke up ... for the present extravaganza!

Bubbles was not totally into her stocking ... until she got some crackers from it. ^_^

The kids all got a great haul from grandparents and cousins. We finally gave Bruise the Darth Maul lightsaber that we picked up on a great sale (Target Deal of the Day) months and months ago. He even used it for a staff when he, Bucket, and their baby boy cousin posed as a nativity scene (Bubbles and their other girl cousin there were in desperate need of naps ... and too wound up to take them. Whoops!). I like to joke that we refer to him as Joe-SITH.

Bucket liked the Barbie DVDs that I was able to pick up (Black Friday sales). They also really liked the other presents that they got, too.

We stayed Christmas night and took off the next morning. We drove up Hwy 101 and took the kids to the Newport Aquarium, which was a real treat. (Yes, we got a membership. We only have to go twice more to more than recoup the cost. AND with at least one trip, we can take grandparents, too. We asked Michael's folks if they'd want to come along with sometime this year. And they were very amenable.)

And we headed home and started unpacking ... and Bruise and Bucket started putting together their LEGO sets from Santa.

Freyja-cat was very happy to see us, after we were gone for five days. I'm glad to report that the Kitty Prozac did its job. There were no messes or bad smells to clean up. ... Just loads and loads and loads of laundry that I'm behind on.

We took the kids with us up to the Portland Aquarium (I had gotten passes a few months ago on a great discount via Sharing Spree ... It's like Groupon), which was very crowded. We had to park in a lot of a neighboring business. But it was fun. There's a LOT of hands-on tanks ... and, if you buy the food, you can feed the fish. Bruise got to pet a baby shark (a white striped bamboo shark, IIRC) and a ray.
I got to play with my Christmas present from Michael -- a video camera. (Seriously, Costco has great deals. We got one with a case AND an extra battery, with an 8GB memory card included. Which is a very nice thing.)

I also got to use my Christmas present from my mom -- a "whizzy stick!" ... It's an immersion blender with lots of attachments. I used the food-processor one to cut up carrots and pickles to put in tuna salad sandwiches last week. Yum. (And a nice way to get some extra vegetables!)
We call it a whizzy stick due to the Youtube videos of Titli's Busy kitchen ... since that's what she refers to her immersion blender as.

We also, while we were up in Portland, took the kids to IKEA. I picked up my IKEA Family card. We ate dinner there ... and we checked out furniture that we'd like to invest in ... when we have the truck and NO kids to transport that day. (Because we couldn't fit a couch AND the kids in the van at the same time. No possible way.)

And we stopped by the Washington Square Mall. I had a coupon for a free hand lotion at L'Occitane. And Michael and the kids went to the LEGO store. Bubbles, with me, flirted with the salesclerk at L'Occitane (He always pronounces my name correctly, so I already like him). She and I eventually moseyed over to The Body Shop ... and I snagged some body butters and a lip butter. Yeah, I like beauty products.
If I knew that I'd have that much time to kill while Michael and the kids were STILL in the Lego Store, I'd have also dropped into Lush to check out their stuff. ... As it was, I wheeled Bubbles (in her stroller) into Victoria's Secret to look at their lotions and body sprays.
I headed back to the LEGO Store ... just in time, so that Michael could snag the LEGO VIP card from my wallet.
Gotta love those VIP points! ^_^

We moved Bubbles out of our room and into the kids' room. Which meant that we had to rearrange their room (and buy a shelving unit to hold their tubs of dress-up clothes and such) ... so it's a lot more open in there, even with more furniture in there ... and there's an industrial-chic vibe with that shelving unit (Home Depot, what would we do without you?)
Bubbles has been sleeping pretty well (and deeply) in the kids' room ... which means that Michael and I are getting more sleep again.

We also picked up some sundries for home projects (new light for the front porch, house numbers so that we can put them in a spot where pizza/Chinese food deliveries can see them at night ... IMPORTANT stuff, you see?).

We also replaced out old (nearly twelve years) vacuum. We went for a less-expensive model ... though I'm tempted to try a Dyson someday. But our old bagless Hoover was a good worker for SO LONG ... we just got a newer Hoover. And a little handvac so the kids can help keep the Dining Room floor cleaner.

Michael spent the last couple days of his vacation with the flu: sore throat, fever, chills, aches. Not the stomach flu, but not feeling great at all. Poor guy. He wasn't feeling awesome this morning ... but he still headed into work. At least he's feeling a little better, right?

Funny conversation with Bucket, the other night:
She has a habit of naming stuffed animals after family members ... and she has a stuffed triceratops.
"Look, [Bubbles]! This is 'Daddy!'"
"Um, [Bucket], that'd be confusing to her. how about a different name?
"Okay ... how about Horny Daddy?"
"No. That's not appropriate. Let's find something else."

And NO, I didn't explain to her WHY "horny daddy" is not a good name for her stuffed animal ... however, I was VERY composed the whole time. Whereas, Michael was shaking with suppressed laughter.
Usually, it's the opposite.
Apparently, I was VERY tired.

Just now, Bucket made a card for Bruise, for his/their birthday.
Inside it, there's a picture of him as the earth, smiling. And she's the sun, smiling.
And she's putting me in there as a smiling Jupiter.
"What?? You're going to make me a GAS GIANT?? You should make me Saturn! Daddy like me so much he put a ring on it!!"
But she's not to be swayed ... I am a gas giant (*raspberries*) and Michael's Saturn ("Mom!! It looks like monkey ears!!! ... And [Bubbles] is going to be Pluto!!")

But, yeah, she's working herself up into a state.

The house is cleaner. I need to do another load of dishes and lots of laundry. But the floors are vacuumed (I need to vacuum the kids' room and our room. Sometime.) ... the hall bathroom is pretty clean. I need to clean the kitchen, our bathroom and bedroom (which hasn't been done in so long. *sigh*) ... And tackle the laundry room with its piles and piles of boxes to be collapsed and put in recycling. ... and all the laundry in there, too.

And let's not start on the state of my desk. Oy.

BUT! At least I've sent out the save-the-date for the kiddos' birthday to family. And Michael and I are getting plans put together for what to do.

I just need a few more days weeks to get the house clean and everything planned.

Oh!! Did I mention that Bubbles has cut her first tooth? It's in there! And it's a sharp little thing. Feels like her second tooth is not far behind. And I keep waiting for her top teefers to pop through, too.
Can you believe she's going to be ten months old tomorrow?

Bucket's started watching Invader Zim ... I can't complain (says the girl who told her husband, ala Gir, "I have to have tacos or else I'll explode! ... that happens sometimes." Yes, the fun we have when we go to Jack-in-the-Box).

okay, okay ... I'd better go throw another load in the dishwasher and washing machine. This house isn't going to clean itself!

Oh ... also I gave a talk at church on Sunday. I was TOLD that I'd be the first adult speaker (in the middle). I was the last speaker (so I needed to fill up the time ... good thing I prepared a 20-minute talk!). Yeah ... my topic was gratitude ... and GOSH, I'm SO grateful that it's over!! Then, after that, my kids' class didn't have a teacher. So I passed Bubbles to Michael and taught their class ... including a boy who said "Poop ... poop.... poop" throughout the opening prayer before our lesson. Then, after I told him that that was NOT reverent behavior (and we HAD just had a class trip to the bathrooms and drinking fountain), he screeched out, "I HAVE TO GO POOPY!!!!"
"Well ... then ... go to the bathroom." I told him.

And he did and got back to the classroom. And was all wiggly and distracting. Then he yells out, "MY BRAIN!!"
"Are you okay?" I ask (Earlier in Sharing Time, where the children's classes meet together, he snarled at my not to touch him after I had patted his knee. So I wasn't about to touch him against his will).
"I don't feel good! I want to go home!!!"

So, I left the kids for a minute (good thing that the other three are pretty self-sufficient and well-behaved) so I could take this one to the Primary President ... and she tracked down his family.

The rest of the lesson went quite well ... especially since I only had time to review it during Sharing time. Trial by fire, that was.

Yeah. Crazy times. If it wasn't ALREADY vacation, I'd ask for some vacation ... but, well, we see where that got me now, don't we?

Not quite twenty days later ...

Yes, yes, I know. I'm ashamed, too.

Because, overall, it's not like I've been WILDLY BUSY or anything ... Not really.

Let's see what all I HAVE been up to ...

• The local Veteran's Day parade was actually on a SATURDAY this time, so we got to go as a complete family. We found a decent spot to sit/stand. The kids got lots of candy. Bubbles got some attention from a float of ladies in retro dress. Very fun. Then we went home for hot cocoa.
• Mad cleaning of the house. About to be repeated.
  Since we found a sitter for the kids for the rehearsals where Michael and I BOTH need to be there.
  And, after a week with the kids home (and getting back from visiting family  ... and decorating for Christmas), I need to touch it all up. Again.
• Bruise, Bucket, and Bubbles had all gotten sick.
  It started Monday (the 12th) ... As I was MAD CLEANING, Bucket said that she didn't feel good. She had a headache and felt like she had a fever. I felt her head and compared it to her brother's. They felt about the same. So I told her she could clean or go take a nap.
  So, she went and laid down. And crashed HARD for a couple HOURS.
  ... So I took Bruise's temperature. Sure enough, he was running a fever.
  And these fevers would NOT break. So I kept dosing them with Tylenol or Ibuprofen and pushed liquids like CRAZY.
  Tuesday, they SHOULD have gone to school (Monday was a no-school day) ... but they were still running fevers. And Bruise coughed enough that he freaked himself out.
  I called the school AND the doctor's office, cuddling him in my lap. Got in for an appointment. It was just a virus. Not hand-foot-mouth or anything. Just a virus. Keep them out of school until the fever's gone. Lots of water. Tylenol. Ibuprofen. Cool baths ... just that sort of thing. And, if Bubbles caught it (which she did), lots of nursing and Tylenol.
  Bucket went back to school on Wednesday. I walked her down the street to the bus stop, with Bruise on the phone. Covering my bases.
  Bruise finally went back to school on Friday ... right before they started a whole week off of school.
  Bubbles was sick starting Thursday evening ... but after Tylenol, nursing, and a bath, she was back to her happy, healthy self again by Friday afternoon.
• Have I mentioned that we replaced the old thermostat in the hall? Well, we did. And then the heat pump wouldn't kick on. Turns out that we needed ONE more wire. After a couple weeks, we finally ("we" = Michael) fixed it.
  When we got back from a couple days away for Thanksgiving, the house was 55°F. Brr! And, when we tried to heat the three main parts with our heaters (two heat fans in the bedrooms and a heat dish in the front room), we kept tripping the breaker! Oy! ... But about two inches of wire later (after we BOUGHT the wire), we have heat and the house is staying around a much-more-comfortable 68-70°.
• I have MOST of my Visiting Teaching done for the month. And I have an appointment to meet with the last gal on our route. I'm glad to have that. I feel a little (well, more than a LITTLE) guilty when I only chat up my Visiting Teaching sisters in the hall at church. I want them to know that they really are deserving of a visit ... even if I'm a lazy screw-up more often than not. >.<
• I'm hosting a Partylite party for a friend who's just starting up her business. THAT'S why I have to clean the house today and tomorrow. And I need to go buy snacks, too.
  I have no idea who all is going to show up. Hopefully, there'll be more people than when I threw a Tupperware party. Since I think that NO ONE showed up besides Mom Cox and her sister, who sells Tupperware. I felt really bad. But we had some REALLY good salsa.
• I set up my nativity scenes today. My Playmobil one and my Calico Kittens one. And a small olivewood one that was a present last yeat (it's small enough to be an ornament).
  I also put my Linus figurine from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special by them. "That's what Christmas is all about!"
• While at Fred Meyer on black Friday (we went out late. Didn't get into town until about 7:30. Very low-key. Just hit Kmart and Fred Meyer and went back to my mom's, where she was watching the kids. I went to Costco on Saturday and got my cookbook. That was it, really. Oh... we also went to Target, where I picked up Season 5 of The Big Bang Theory for $13. Score!! And I didn't have to wake up crazy early at all. That's right. Be jealous. :P), I picked up a pack of dreidels. In a week from this coming Saturday, we can play the Dreidel game! I have gold chocolate coins! I have a little wall-hanging/Velcro menorah ... I'm rather excited.
  Yes, you SHOULD expect this from me. I'm the token Mormon who LOVES using Yiddish.
  Also, when my mom's school would do Christmas Around the World for their holiday open house, she ALWAYS was Israel. I know that she has a real Menorah around somewhere. It was HARD to find one, too. ... I should totally make Latkes this year.
  (Seriously, last year, I KNOW we bought THREE dreidels ... And I cannot find them ANYWHERE. SO ANNOYING.)
• We're now on the last Harry Potter book ... After that, the kids are asking for "The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda" for bedtime story. Then, after that, "Ella Enchanted."
• For the last week, I've been rather crazy (thank you, hormones. Thank you.) ... You know it's BAD when, as you've put a few coins in the Salvation Army bucket-thing, and the bell-ringer wishes you a merry Christmas ... and you get all teary-eyed ... Yeah. I mean, I get teary-eyed regardless, with Christmas songs ... so it was pretty nuts.
  Now, it should ease up for a few weeks. Thank goodness.
• We drugged up the cat (with her Kitty Prozac) before we left. Good move ... we came home and she was nice, relaxed, and NOT HAVING HAD PEED ON STUFF while we were gone.
• I cut Michael's hair ... since we'll be doing family portraits this Friday. I'll be taking the kids in for haircuts (well, not Bubbles. Her hair's not that long) ... Bruise'll get tidied up ... and, well, I'm not wild about how I did Bucket's hair. I'll have someone who KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING get it all cute.
• My phone was freaking out ... so I had to do (another) factory reset on it. *sigh* So Michael and I will be shopping for new phones soon.
• I ordered some bras ... which is kind of a big deal. My size is not ... a standard size in most stores. Which is crazy annoying. So, I ordered some from overseas. It'll be nice to have more than ONE nursing bra that fits.
• My nails have all broken off ... probably from all the cleaning.
• I know it makes me sound like a grinch, but I really get sad for Christmas eve at my Nana's old house.
  Part of it that I got to see my cousins ... and, for the majority, Pop-pop was still alive. Uncle M hadn't had his stroke ... that house ... I really miss it. I miss the smell of it.
  I also miss Christmas morning up at Grandma D's (my mom's mom). Even though almost all my cousins, growing up, were boys who didn't share ANY interests with bookish, girly me. But ... well, it was always nice.
  I think one reason I enjoy cooking Thanksgiving dinner, on the years that I've hosted, is that the smell of a roasting turkey always takes me back to Grandma's house.
  What? No! No, I just have something in my eye. Like a contact ... or a seasonal allergy.
• We also went to the kids' school's Book Fair. You know me, I'm a sucker for anything involving books. Especially books that you get to KEEP. I freaking love that.
• Bucket got some hand-me-down dresses from another girl at church. They're in great shape. 
• We went to the local mall's Kids' Club activity ... Breakfast with Santa. After a free breakfast, they got to go sit on Santa's lap. They also got free (felt) Santa hats and goodie bags.

That's really most everything that I can think of to fill you in on.

The kids have been developing their senses of humor ...

At the dinner table on Thanksgiving, Bruise's cup is full of juice
Bruise: *to my mom* This is wine! JUST KIDDING! I'm lying!

Bucket, as I told her some stories about what she'd say when she was little: Wow, I was really bossy back then!
Me: You still are, sometimes. But I still love you.

Yesterday, she walked into the front room and announced, "Something smells strange! What smells weird?"
I told her, "You smell weird."
She and I looked at each other levelly for a second ... and burst out laughing.
We are so strange.

In other news, Michael's been summoned to Jury Duty. It should happen in January.
Isn't this, like, his third or fourth time? I've only been summoned once ... and I wasn't ever selected to be on a jury. (Truly, I didn't mind. It would have been AWFUL having to arrange childcare ... especially since I was still nursing Bruise and Bucket a lot.)

Okay ... I should now shut up and focus on cleaning the front rooms. If I can just get the front room, dining room, kitchen, and hall bath in order, we're GREAT. I could be mostly done TODAY. Then, I could watch Downton Abbey or something during Bubbles' naps tomorrow. ^_^

This is my life ...

So, Monday, Bruise didn't have his homework folder so I emailed his teacher.

Turns out he turned it in early ... so we were able to reschedule the talk about personal responsibility.

Yesterday, I got the kids off to school and threw on clothes to go to Zumba. I had to get Bubbles from her nap ... which meant that we left without filling her belly. This will come into play in a bit.

At the church, where we do our Zumba, the missionaries were using the Cultural Hall/gym for an activity ... so we were moved to the Primary (children's group) room.
Also, instead of there only being about eight ladies, there were over ten of us (plus a group of around six or seven kids, 6 month - 5 years, playing) all stuffed in the room.

We got through the warm up. We got through almost all of another song ... and I look over to where Bubbles (usually a very happy child) is screaming. (I didn't notice her screaming earlier since another little boy was screaming. Louder.) ... Well, I'm not totally sure what was happening, but she was laying down and another little boy was over her, almost laying on her. Maybe she fell? Maybe he knocked her over trying to kiss her ... Either way, she was MAD and/or scared.

So I go and pick her up. I hold her until she's calmed down. I set her back down for the little playdate ... and she is NOT. HAVING. ANY. OF. THIS. CRAP.

Well, I was being (overly) optimistic and left the Moby wrap in the car. And there's NO WAY that I can hold a 15-lb baby in my arms and jump/do choreographed moves (on carpet, no less).
So ... we left.
And I felt like a bit of a loser.

Because how'm I supposed to lose weight and get in shape at all (since it's OBVIOUSLY NOT GONNA HAPPEN by my friend's wedding in two weeks) if I can't even stay through a whole class?
... especially when I may or may not have eaten ice cream for breakfast. I plead the fifth on that one.

But, yeah. So, even though I've barely done ANYTHING, I'm all flushed and sweating ... and Bubbles and I drop off some books and pick up my hold at the library.
Then we go home and I feed her and put her back in her bed so I can get a shower.

About an hour later, after chatting with a friend online, I load up Bubbles and we head into the next town to go to a bra shop ... since ... okay, here's the deal:

Last week, I decided that I was taking the extender off the back of my nursing bra. I prefer my bands tight, so I can get support. And having that extra inch wasn't helping.
Of course, that made the cups tighter (stupid ratio. Stupid boobs.) ... and I noticed that one of my breasts was REALLY SORE. And I started getting REALLY WORRIED.
I didn't think is was Mastitis (been there, done that, experienced the flu-like symptoms and blood in my milk, took the antibiotics ... where's my merit badge, dang it??), since it wasn't a sharp pain. Just this dull, all-consuming, ache.

Then I wised up, put the stupid extender back on the band ... and, within a day, I was feeling back to normal.

So ... OBVIOUSLY that bra (which is/was my BEST-fitting nursing bra) was not cutting it. Ugh.

Which brings us to going to the bra store...

I had to search for a parking spot, since I was dumb and got there during the lunch hour. Spent WAAAAAY too long circling the blocks to get a parking spot. But I found one ... and Bubbles, who HAD been asleep nearly the whole drive woke up. *sigh*

Still, I threw (figuratively) her carseat into the stroller and walked to the shop.
I was able to get in immediately and the gal there fitted me for a bra.

Unfortunately, I'm busty enough that most companies don't make my size. ... And, when they do make the correct CUP size, it's not paired with the right band size.
Still, there's a little wiggle room (go down a cup size with a larger band size ... it'll still fit. Like buying a size 9 shoe when there's not a 8W, if you follow).

But, I was able to leave with a spendy bra that fits and will look better under the dress I'll be wearing at my friend's wedding.
I was REALLY hoping that they'd have an underwire that'd work, since I kinda NEED the structure to avoid the uniboob look ... but, well, until I lose about two cup sizes ... yeah.
Which leads me to tell you that I am not a fan of my boobs.
My husband likes them ... and they perform their purpose of lactation well ... but, if it weren't for that last one (Sorry, Michael), if I had the opportunity, I'd have them reduced in a second. ... They're in the way and, according to most bra companies, apparently they're freakish in size. ... Yeah. I'm not loving my body right now.

Between my, apparently, freakishly-sized boobs and my fat deposits hanging from my stomach ... Let's just say that I know my friend loves me, since she asked me to be a bridesmaid ... and, in comparison, I'm the largest one there (except not in height ... so I can't be thinking it's just to scale or something).

But, really ... if you can walk into any store, find a bra on the racks, and pay less than $30 for a bra that contains you, let along supports and lifts? ... I almost hate you. I mean, I don't HATE you ... but I'm so very jealous.
I mean, I used to be able to do that ... but not so much at all this last decade.

It's really, really dumb.

And, I realized that the last pair of jeans I bought ... The back pockets are all wrong, so they're not flattering to my butt.

I know, I know. I'm totally whining. I should be very happy to have a body that WORKS ... and, for the most part, it does! Unless I think about it ... or want to feel that I look nice.

There's a REASON why, instead of shopping for clothes, I prefer shoes or nail polish or make-up or hair-colors or books ... because those things look nice regardless of your size.
I've never had to wonder if a book or polish color made my butt look wider or would manage to button over my ginormous rack.

I hate to think that I let myself go after getting married ... but, well, body-wise, there's really no other way to explain it. Unless I suddenly developed some grandular malfunction ... Which, I suppose COULD be the case.

But, really, if I hear ANYONE talking about how awesome it'd be to have big boobs ... I'm going to need help restraining myself from loudly telling her how absolutely and completely stupid that is.
(Seriously, almost every friend I have is smaller than I am ... and if possible, I'd have SHARED THE WEALTH ... GLADLY.)

But, yeah ...
This obviously is one of those posts in which I fail to be very funny. At all.

Still ... one of my BIG problems is that I don't love exercising. Maybe because I never have a proper sports bra that fits well (maybe I should call up the bra shop and see if they've got one?) ...
Still, if you have a workout that you LOVE ... how's about sharing the wealth?

In return, I can offer book recommendations, polish recommendations ... and the like. Or just jokes. I know a few elephant jokes ...

But, really ... I NEED some exercise that I enjoy better than cheesecake and ice cream and Nutella.
Does such a workout exist??

List for for today

• Bruise's arms and chest look amazingly better. Yay for prayer, vitamins, and vegetables/juices!
  Now ... just to get his THIGHS to be all better. They have tons of those darn warts on them.
• Bucket only have the, what, five warts still. No real change. But they're easily covered by clothes or band-aids.
• I went to a Zumba class last night (a friend invited me). I wasn't able to do the hand weights for the second toning song. But I pushed through and didn't sit any out.
  I channeled my inner SYTYCD. I had to make Nigel and sweet Adam Shankman proud of me.
  So, I was sweaty and my face was SO bright red by the end. And I downed my liter of water.
  My feet and neck were SO SORE (Not my thighs or abs, surprisingly).
  I did take some Ibruprofen ... so I'm feeling pretty good this morning. My feet are a little sore. (I usually don't BOUNCE so much.)
  After class, she and I chatted for a while. Like almost two hours. About church, college experiences, and The Hunger Games. Good times. It's nice to have chats. In person. With another adult. ^_^
• I now have more of a collection of minifigs (Legos). A couple weeks back, Michael got me the bagpiper (which I have a soft spot for. What?? One of my ancestors was born near Loch Lomond!). Last night, while out with the kids (even Vesper ... since I couldn't wear her and do Zumba.), he got the Viking girl/opera singer and the rock star.
  Bruise got my other favorite of this collection: The computer nerd (complete with bow tie, book, and mug.)
  I call the Viking "Brunhilda." ... I haven't named the others.
• I need to run back to Target and then Bath and Body Works for completing teacher gifts (for the two teachers of Kindergarten and the student teacher). I know what we're doing this weekend.
  Well, along with about a BAZILLION OTHER THINGS.
• I bought some magnetic nail polish while I was at Claire's yesterday. I got pink and silver. And the lids each have a different pattern on them. Pretty fun.
• I need to cut Bruise's and Michael's hair today. And redo Bucket's and Bubbles' nail polish.
  Good thing I'm running over to Target, since I need to get some new nail polish remover.
  (I'm almost out of the acetone remover. I have about 1/3 of a bottle of non-acetone ... but I kind of hate it. You have to take FOREVER. ... And for Bubbles, it's not worthwhile. I just use acetone remover while she's taking a bath and immediately wash her hands and feet off once the polish is gone. ... See? I have a SYSTEM.)
• I keep having really weird dreams. Last night featured Mom and I making dinner ... but then Bri came and I was scrambling to make something gluten-free, since I don't want her to be sick.
  I was also going to pop popcorn on the stove. I don't know why.
  Probably because I watched a video on how best to do it, yesterday, on the YouTube channel for America's Test Kitchen.
  The night before, I dreamt that I had a TINY hedgehog in a plastic-type shoebox. And I kept it in the bathroom. And it had a baby. ... Also, somehow, there was this small African wild cat that was it's natural predator in the box, too. ... Yeah. I don't know what to make of it.
• I need to cook up our vegetables and get those into the kids' gullets. I have broccoli, cauliflower (which I can steam and mash with garlic), and sweet potatoes. Those should help the kiddos' immune systems. If not, I'll head to the natural foods section at Fred Meyer. I'm sure that I can find something there. If not, I'll head to the vitamin/homeopathic store in the next town.
  Still, I'm really amazed at HOW much better Bruise is looking. (Except for his poor thighs. ... Really, where COULD he have caught this virus?? It's insane.)
• I still need to work at cleaning up the house some more. It never ends. :P

And, really, I think those are all the important bullet points of the day.
So far.
Phew!

Again, I've been remiss in my duties ...

Obviously, I need to make sure that y'all know this: I am fine.
As far as I'm aware (and I'll know FORSURE-FORSURE Tuesday afternoon, what with bloodwork and another ultrasound), the bean/fetus/whatchamacallit is FINE, too.

ClotWatch 2011 has passed. And, starting Friday, my chances of miscarriage drop to about 1%, so that's a little more reassuring.

At least until I get the ultrasound and results from THIS coming blood draw AND the next round (about a month later) ... Here's hoping for nothing out of the ordinary. No nuchal abnormalities or any Trisomies ... Honestly, really ... this is MY child we're talking about. Normal? Not a chance.
Healthy, though? No real genetic abnormalities? THAT'S what I'm talking about. ^_^

Let's see ... what's gone on since I last blogged?

• Mostly just popping my Zofran (at least once a day) to stave off the nausea. Still.
• Still volunteering at the library. 
• TRYING to get the house in some semblance of order. Which doesn't happen very easily when you spend a good deal of your day lying in bed (because you feel less nauseated AND you are to the point where you NEED a nap between 2-5PM, though whether you GET one is not guaranteed).
• Went down to visit family ... saw Nana. She's doing okay. I worry about her, though. I mean, when you START OUT with SIX grandparents ... and now that I'm down to just TWO (and a new stepgrandma, but not the one that was my Grammy) ... AND the fact that I'm a resistant-to-change only child ... well, does THAT make sense that I'm a LITTLE antsy?
• The kiddos and I got to hold kittens at my Dad's. A stray had a litter of four. ... It's been a long time since I got to hold little fuzzies. 
• Michael and I got a touch of food poisoning (well, HIM more than me. But it's not good when you're VIOLENTLY ill even AFTER taking Zofran. Oy. I have some broken blood vessels in my eye lid. Time to put concealer on, right?) at a family reunion.
• I COULD talk about the side effects of Zofran ... and I'm NOT talking about the headache I was warned about. *grumbles* I've had one MILD headache on Zofran. With the OTHER, MORE PERSISTENT side effect, let's just say that I'm working VERY HARD to take more fiber (Yay for Fiber Gummi Chews!) and water ... and ... um... stool softener capsules. SO not fun.
  Especially when you throw up those capsules. Ugh.
  Like I said, I could talk about those side effects.
  But I won't.
  Much.
  *grumbles*

Yesterday morning, I woke up and checked my email and such on my phone (pretty, pretty Droid. O, how I adore thee!) ... and then I noticed something out of the ordinary.
I was using my 3G (Verizon's internet), not our home wireless.
So I made sure that my phone was set to connect to wireless (sometimes I turn it off). It was.
And I check that it still has our home wireless saved in it ... which it did ... but said that it was "Out of Range."
WHAT?!!??!? HELLO!!! I'm RIGHT HERE! At HOME! I'm seriously, MAYBE twenty feet from the router!
So, I drag myself out of bed and check the router/modem ... And, *gulp!*, all the lights are off.
I power cycle it (turn it off and back on again). Nothing. I check the power strip (which restarts the computer. Which needed to be restarted ANYWAYS), no dice.
So I call Michael. And I did make sure that our phones are working (since DSL is on our phone bill ... so, no, we're not behind). And I do check the phone cord outside (where it's plugged in there). It's all fine.
SO, then I call the phone company. And I got a nice gal who transferred me to a nice (Indian?) lady from Tech support. She commended me for doing a power cycle, had me switch which outlet the modem was plugged in to (no change).
And she gave me a very, very technical diagnosis: "Sounds like your problem is that ... it's BUSTED."

Now, I TRIED REALLY HARD not to snicker.
And I swallowed my urge to quip, "Oh, 'busted.' Is that a technical term?"
You should be SO PROUD of my restraint.

So, I got to discuss whether to rent or buy a new modem. AND, if the phone company sent it, it'd take a couple days. HOWEVER, Wal-Mart (which, though I have no issues with, I do love to refer to as Voldemart) does carry modems that are compatible with our DSL. So, when Michael got home, we skedaddled over to the OTHER town got some sundry supplies:

• Wireless modem
• Concealer (I was almost out)
• Laundry detergent (ditto)
• Small container of Tums (since our travel bag didn't have ANY in it. And Michael could have used them.)
• Gummi Prenatals (since tossing up a Prenatal is NASTYSAUCE).
• Two small laundry baskets ... so the kids can help put away laundry. ^_^
• Sobe Lifewater (Strawberry Dragonfruit)  - For me, since I was thirsty and nauseated
• King-size Twix bar - for Michael and the kids to share.

Then we went to Costco. And bought the kids a hot dog to share. Michael got a Carne Asada bake. I debated about (and decided not to get) a Berry Sundae Fro-yo. I don't regret it. I was a little hungry, but not in the mood to eat.
Though, I did take my gummi vitamins (Prenatal AND my new Calcium and Vit D gummies). I had already taken my (DELICIOSO!!) Fiber gummies that morning.
(Seriously, they are nummers -- Strawberry, blackberry, and peach. The peach taste JUST like a gummi-version of the Jolly Rancher peach candies. Which are my faves. Those and the fruit punch ones. When I can get those. Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmm ....)

But, yeah, got the modem set up (had to use the new power cord, but the other cords were already in place. So that went SO much faster this time). Got it all configured ... and I'm back online ON MY COMPUTER!!!!!!!!!!

*sings* Reconnected... and it feels so good!!

Michael had complimented me earlier during the day about how I kept my sense of humor even without the intertubes ... and I had to admit that since my phone still got internet (Thanks to my AWESOMEST of ALL AWESOME HUSBANDS [Don't argue. He's the AWESOMEST to ME. Your spouse may be the coolest to YOU, but mine is the BESTEST to/for me. Just deal with it. {Step away from a confrontation with the scary, hormonal, pregger lady. Just back away. Nod and smile. Once you're a safe distance away, turn and RUN. GO! GO! GO! GO!}]), since Michael opted for the unlimited 3G, when it was still an option. ^_^

So, that should get us caught up to today. I cleaned the house (well, most of the public quarters): did the dishes, swept the kitchen, cleaned the dining room table (left the Harry Potter Legos on there for now ... Just the Hogwarts Express set and the Knight Bus. Not ALL of them ... Still need The Burrow and Diagon Alley. ... Yes, those ARE needs. What??), vacuumed the floor, hung the bird treats on the Sweetgum tree out by the kids' window. Only threw up once, when I was working on the two pots that I had to handwash. Oy.
And I did a couple loads of laundry thus far.

Mom's coming up today. Her birthday is Friday. So, if you're friends with her on Facebook, make sure to wish her a happy 29th birthday.
What? She's SO 29.
(So what if I'm 30?)
At oldest, she's 29-1/2.
Which rounds down to 29.
So THERE!!!
(In the words of Adam Savage, "I reject your reality and substitute my own!")
(This is kinda like how my Nana, though she's really 80 now, will ALWAYS be 57 to me. But not very much like that at all.)

(Is it weird that I REALLY, REALLY wish that I had Adam Savage as a big brother? I adore him. He's so fun. Michael relates more to Jaime, but I'm a HUGE Adam fan. ... Which explains a LOT about Michael's and my relationship. He's the Jamie to my Adam, the Shawn to my Gus, the cheese to my macaroni ... ^_^)

But the kids are happily watching Netflix (they were sad they couldn't yesterday). I'm happily surfing the interwebs, playing my Facebook games, blogging, sharing links and links and links with Michael ...

Now to get a shower before my mom comes.

Hope that you all are doing well, too!!

One thing that's nice about all the puking that I'm doing ... and how I barely eat ... I'm eating better (when I do eat) and I'm eating better portion sizes. (At McDonald's last week? Eating a MEAL is too much. I just need my Quarter Pounder (no onions, extra pickles) and a smoothie. Then Mom lets me pick at the salad she doesn't finish.)
And Michael noticed that I look skinnier. Which is nice.
My wedding ring is getting looser.

Speaking of my ring, I took it off to shower (put my haircolor renewal stuff in my hair ... now it's more red than light brown, but that's okay). I forgot to put it back on until Michael came home, which woke me up from my nap. I went to the bathroom ... and went to put on my ring. AND I COULDN'T FIND IT!!!!!
Because Michael picked it up and was holding it.
*DEEP BREATHS* I was FREAKING OUT.
But it's safely ensconced back on my finger again. PHEW.

I had to buy new sunglasses Monday. My old pair broke in my purse.
So I got some at Ross for cheap. And they're cute.
When I went to go shopping, I left the kids with Michael (who'd come home early since he was still sick).
I gave the kids hugs and kisses. And Bucket told me, "I'm going to miss you SO MUCH, so I will hold your love in my heart!"
Where does she get these things?
It was adorable, though.
Bruise made sure to tell me, when I got home, that he missed me a lot, too. ^_^

I have sweet kids. And a sweet, wonderful husband.
Hopefully this little incubatee follows suit. ^_^

Things I think I really, really want ...

Being addicted to the interwebs gives one quite a few cravings ... or, at least, a VERY strong yearning to try:

• Trader Darwin's Chewable Melatonin (at Trader Joe's). ... It's mint-flavored.
  Maybe that means I won't wake up with "Kitten Breath."
• Vanilla Beans.
  I just want a LOT of vanilla beans. Like a crap-ton (that's a ... metric measurement. Yeah. *shifty eyes*)
  I could make my own vanilla extract (give me a reason to be carded. Ha!).
  OR Vanilla butter (scoops the innerds of the bean into a stick of butter. Stir. ... Sounds delish!)
  Or all sorts of amazing vanilla-ness-essence.

I also see cute manicure ideas. Or hairstyles. Or ideas for sprucing up my house.

I can has unlimited incomes, please?

I came, I shopped, I conquered ...

Well, I did a pretty good job.

I spent my Borders Bucks AND got an awesome 20% off ENTIRE PURCHASE coupon (and with the extra 10% off purchases with the upgraded Borders Rewards card) ... I got awesome deals. I ended up spending just under $30 ... and saving $40. I love it when I can do this.

Later, we went to Old Navy, since they had a special (polo shirts = $6 ea.) ... They also had a sale on their clearance bottoms ... all those were $6 (or under), too! ... So I bought a pair of slacks-type pants, a pair of athletic/yoga-esque pants, and ... a pair of skinny jeans. Yeah ... now, I just need the hipster glasses. And some more scarves. And shirts with stripes ....
(But, really? I am kinda in love with my new jeans. And for only $6??)

Yesterday, the pollen count was insanely high. Darn that birch pollen!! One of my sisters-in-law and I had to get some Benadryl from my other sister-in-law. After that kicked in, life was much better (read: less snotting. PHEW.)

But I got to meet my newest niece. I still haven't held her yet. But she's a cutie.
Kinda reminds me how Bucket looked as a baby ... and we all know how lovely my daughter is. ^_^
(Of course, there are likenesses to little C's parents, instead of Michael and me ... But she's from good stock on both sides.)

Okay, I HAVE to stop blogging and watch (what's left of) Kung Fu Panda (also just $7 at Target! Woot!!) with Bucket before she disowns me.

Birthday Backlog ...

Okay ... so I've now had some time to get used to the idea that I'm now ... THIRTY.

It's rather a milestone. I mean, sure it's the oldest I've ever been ... but it sounds so ... final, you know?
Maybe it's just me.

But, truly? I don't feel any different.

Let's see....

Mom got me clothes (shirts and a skirt that arrived the other day). She also took the kids out and got me a DVD holder/shelf/thing that I put together and stuffed the rest of the kids' DVDs into. It's nice to have around 200 DVDs out of the Entertainment center into a shelf/thing so they can SEE what shows they have.

Mom and Dad Cox gave me a gift card to Barnes and Nobles. (Need to use that ... since you all are aware of my addiction. ^_^ Not denying it.)

Nana and Grampy both sent me checks (which I FINALLY cashed) ... and have spent ... on books and at Bath and Body Works (Cherry Vanilla and Country Chic, in case you wondered).

Julie gave me money. And she and I had gotten our nails done together.
(I just removed my pedicure polish a couple days ago. My toes are now Revlon "Opulent Pink"... bought on a Kmart clearance. Since that's how I roll. ... I've done two different manicures to myself this last week. Now, my nails are also Opulent Pink ... except my ring fingers are FingerPaints "Key to My Art" [gold].)

My Visiting Teacher brought me flowers. My RS president left a gift bag -- water bottle, gloves, and Alyssum  seeds.

Dad and L gave me money ... which I've spent. Nail polish, fast food, lotion and body spray at Victoria's Secret, various bits.

Bri and I are going to get together and work some magic on my hair. Sometime.

But, really, I'm quite spoiled.
We got up Saturday morning (Michael got to sleep in, after his HUGE TEST).
We got ready and headed over to the Verizon store (my Droid was being ... problematic. Had to reset it. And I spent most of the rest of the day, in the car, reloading all my apps as Michael drove).
Then we headed to Eugene, dropped off books at Michael's work (since he had borrowed them for the test), and headed to a couple malls. We walked around 5th Street Market ... I saw lots of stuff I'd like in the kitchen store. Of course, we looked at The Elephant's Trunk (toy store).
Then we went to the Valley River Mall ... free samples at See's (the pineapple cream??? YUM!), bought a package of Little Pops (easier for sharing with the kiddos) ... and walked around. (And I popped into VS and bought some [HIGHLY DISCOUNTED, since that's how I roll] lotion and body spray ... Island Escape, so it's "beachy coconut and sugarcane" ... a nice, yummy, summery smell. And, yeah, 75% off. LOVE IT.)

After we got home (and ate Wendy's bacon-cheeseburgers), we watched a DVD from Netflix and relaxed. Then, around 6, we went to Novak's for dinner. Yum!

After dinner (we were too full to FINISH dinner, let alone think about dessert. Such a travesty! :P), we headed over to Target. ... I got two set of Lego Harry Potter -- The Quidditch Match and Dobby's Freedom (complete with Luscious Malfoy.) ... Now, I just REALLY NEED (shut up, it is a need) Diagon Alley (WEASLEY TWINS!!), The Burrow (ARTHUR AND MOLLY WEASLEY! BELLATRIX!), and The Hogwarts Express (RON!!) ... Though, I might kinda need Hargrid's Hut ... since we have the older Hagrid, so he looks jaundiced next to the other Professors.  Just sayin'.

And, YES, the kiddos are VERY. PUT. OUT. that Mommy doesn't let them play with HER Legos.
I have them over the TV, so everyone can LOOK at them. But, no, they don't get to play with them.
I'm mean. I'm perfectly aware. And they kids have gotten used to it. ^_^

But, yes, I had a good birthday. 15 days ago. A good birthday, indeed.