Tuesday, June 30, 2009

lately

The kids have been great, Man has been wonderful, and I still can't walk a straight line. The sleep study confirmed apnea but my recovery from the study has been slow. It's Tuesday and I feel like I'm finally starting to be a normal person again.

It's shocking how one night of positively lousy sleep has put me out of commission for 4 days. Sunday, the day after I woke up from the study, I felt drunk from sleep deprivation and tried to just keep a low profile at church.

-sigh-

So, no funny stories to report. We've had another series of frustrating dr's appts when we tried to get Tag a new glasses prescription which led us on a wild goose hunt that ends with making an appt with an ophthalmologist at Walter Reed, which, as previously outlined, can be a 7 hour excursion during which I can't have any other kids with me due to Maryland laws prohibiting the presence of any children who aren't the object of the appointment.

It's also going to take at least another 2 weeks before I can get on that life-saving cpap machine and another month or two before we figure out if I'm narcoleptic, which I also can't take kids to either.

I'm starting to understand why people end up paying so much for child care. It's just a way of life, realizing you have to get something done that prohibits the presence of kids.

Anyway, it appears that I'm still somewhat sleep deprived. In a way, I'm grateful for this wake up call though. The dr said the apnea would clear up if I lost weight, so here you go. What more do I need to experience in order to realize that this is what the rest of my life could look like if I don't shape up? I was told that 10-15 years of serious apnea could lead to enlargement of the heart which leads to all kinds of death. If I've had this for the last 7 years, that means something has to happen now and I don't want to depend on a machine for something as natural and necessary as sleep.

rant over. this punch drunk lady is going to bed.

Friday, June 26, 2009

sleep study - anticipation

Going into this, I feel like I'm about to perform for an audience. I worry if I'll snore correctly, demonstrate apnea in a suitable manner, and achieve REM far too quickly as expected. What if my legs twitch the wrong way at the wrong time? What if there isn't anything wrong with me at all?

Performance anxiety. It isn't just for The Waking.

You know how The Deaf call us The Hearing? Y'all are now The Waking. I'm The... well, since I have to drive in a bit I'll just say I'm Doing Ok, but y'all are The Waking anyway.

So, off I go with my pj's, toothbrush, and some just-in-case knitting. (Cupcake! I'm knitting!)

All's well that trims well.


Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

oatmeal hair

I was taking a picture of this Thing's hair....




When this Thing wanted a moment in the spotlight.



You can tell that we started out nice and smiley, but we got silly pretty quickly.





After a while, she just couldn't stop smiling long enough to make a silly face.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Sleep consult

So, after an interview with my sleep specialist, she has two ideas of what may be wrong with me. The first and most likely is that I have sleep apnea. An overnight study later in the month will confirm.

Me: So what's the second thing?

Dr: Narcolepsy.

Me: [snort] Seriously? But that's a funny condition. I mean, comic relief in movies kind of funny. Mr Bean in Rat Race had that condition. I'm not Rowan Atkinson, I don't fall asleep in the middle of anything though there are times I wish I could....

Dr: If you do, [looking exceedingly tolerant] it's a mild form of it. It would mean that your brain doesn't make enough of a chemical to allow you to wake fully. Mild medication can help.

Me: [hopeful] Wait, people with this can't drive, right?

Dr: They can if their condition is well managed.

Me: Oh... darn. I mean, cool, I can get help. Leedle pills.

The drive home almost put me to sleep though. Both lanes of traffic were closed forcing EVERYONE off the highway onto MY exit. By the time I got there it was backed up over 1/2 of a mile and growing. Turkeys who thought they oughta go faster than the rest of us hopped the shoulder and bypassed everyone, and then I noticed that every one of the people who did that were in military uniforms. And then I realized that these were the people who really would get into the worst sort of trouble for being late, and grudgingly quit thinking badly of them. Turkeys.

After I use a c-pap machine for 3-4 weeks, if it isn't helping significantly I go back for a daytime trial that will somehow tell them whether I'm narcoleptic. Apparently I answered two questions that hit on narcolepsy. The first was affirming that I have very vivid dreams close to waking up. Sometimes the dreams seem so important that it feels like betraying someone if I don't hit snooze and finish the dream. They always leave me panting and confused and feeling a great sense of urgency. The second was cataplexy, or the loss of muscle control which is usually triggered by feeling strong emotions. Don't worry folks, peeing while being tickled doesn't qualify. Basically, when I laugh or cry I feel weak in my limbs and either have to lean over or sit down for a while. I thought that it was common to feel that way, common for people to lose the ability to stand when experiencing great emotion. Oh, well. There are times during the day when I'm feeling tired and I just can't walk straight. It could be klutziness, or NARCOLEPSY. Which, with just one transposition, could sound like NECROLEPSY which is like DEATH and LEPROSY. Isn't an associative imagination so fun?

Anyway, back on track. One of the ways they tell if you have narcolepsy is a spinal tap. Which I don't want to get. Ever. I don't want anything else in my spine now that I'm done getting epidurals and I'm so not interested in even needing or being considered to need a blood patch. The other way to tell is to have you try to fall asleep during the day and checking to see how long it takes. Which sounds a lot nicer. "Come on in and take a nap in our comfortable facility and your insurance will pick up the tab." Sweet.

Oddly, I had a friend in high school who, upon finding me dozing in the coffee shop where he worked, asked me if I was narcoleptic. It seemed that every time he saw me I was trying to get a few zzz's. I just figured it was the early morning seminary + homework talking.

Homemade pizza for dinner. Spinach and bacon for the grown ups, pepperoni and pineapple for the kids.



Mr Bean, who plays a narcolept:

Monday, June 15, 2009

Gremlins

This past week we got Gremlins from Netflix. It was the first time I'd seen it and hooted and whooped for my favorite bad-guy gremlins like the child of the 80's I am.

My comment half way through the movie:

Growing up, I didn't realize that this is a Christmas movie.

It isn't often that Man laughs out loud for people but I take a certain amount of pride in getting him to at least chuckle every day. This was one of those laugh out loud moments for him and I felt triumphant.

We had another scheduling conflict this week but I'm positive that I was the one who had her thing scheduled first. It looks like we're going to have to reinstitute a weekly scheduling coordination meeting that looks at least a month in the future. Just last week he said "oh, by the way, I'm going to need the vehicle for an entire month this summer for something I can't possibly reschedule" BOOM just like that. Why it has to happen over the summer when we NEED to go to the library and grocery store and Michaels is just beyond me. -sigh- Though our communication has grown exponentially over the past 8 years, we still have a ways to go yet. I guess one solution would be to get another little car. We keep buying little cars and selling them every time we move. But, it does save a lot of hassle to have that second vehicle. Especially when it comes to this week's hiccup where we may have to choose between my sleep consult and his heart scan. Wait another month while I just get grumpier and more tired, or wait another two weeks while his dr's have question about how his heart is handling dangerously low cholesterol? (did you even know you could get such a condition?)

In the mean time, the kids are handling the extra chores pretty well. We've only had one major complaint, and he shut up fast when he found out that the consequence of whining about chores was more chores. I can't tell you how nice it is to split dish duty among so many people even though I have to stand by and supervise. It has worked out nicely to have daily chores, and then swap other ones between the older kids Mon-Sat, with lighter and different chores on Sunday. Sunday's chores include planning out the family home evening stuff for that day or the next, help plan out meals for the week following the one coming up, and do some writing.



The green line shows the swapped chores in case my description didn't work. The real ones (with their actual names) are laminated in contact paper and marked off in wet-erase.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Computer totem

Meet Steve. He's my new computer totem. He's named after the gecko in Madagascar 2.



Steve began life as a toy from the $1 section at Michael's. It was love at first sight.
(notice my one sad toenail. all is now well but I havn't repainted it.)



Steve is loved by all who see him. Steve is lovable. See Steve being loved.


Then Steve got painted.
I had a fun time looking up Chinese characters and playing with them in paint.




My favorite kind of pet. Doesn't shed, doesn't eat, doesn't poo, and doesn't sneak up on me.

Good Steve.

smaller photos


Lincoln Memorial (pic heavy)

It took a lot of driving (which Man did) and some hiking, but we finally got to see a few of the notable bits of our Nation's Capital.


We followed this hippo for most of the beltway.


First we went to Bethesda for Man's shoulder. -sigh- More tests. Many tests. Thanks for paying your taxes.

Oh, and meet Stanley. He is a little friend of a little friend. Stanley fits in the mail and travels where our little friend cannot, so we take pictures of Stanley when we go do something fun and send Little Cupcake the pictures.

Washington Harbour:



Interesting building:


Kids holding Stanley:


National Cathedral:


Another interesting building:


Someone else's kids:

There was a long line of people who wanted to get pics of their kids under the Gettysburg Address, so I figured these ones were cute and went with it. I have tons of pics of my kids and will continue to add to the collection.

But Stanley insisted on getting in the frame:

What a hoser.

Lincoln Memorial from the outside:


The big guy himself:

That older gentleman in the frame has a very interesting look on his face. I'm glad I caught it. It kinda changes the whole tone of the photo.

Washington Monument from the Memorial:


It's interesting how postcards always show it empty and majestic and lonely. I like seeing all these people who are free to gather and talk and take photos. They're laughing and lounging on the steps and wearing t-shirts that say something they're thinking. Some of them are feeding the geese that are motoring around the reflection pool and a lot of them speak foreign languages. I think having all the people there says as much about the Memorial as the Memorial itself.


Another angle:


The kids have decided that they don't like sight-seeing. It involves too much walking and too little playing. I guess it has a lot more meaning to me as an adult anyway.

Temple from the beltway heading west:

It looks a lot bigger and more castle-like in real life.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

3 month supply

If you're wondering how to plan out a 3 month supply of "stuff", go HERE. Awesomest food storage website. They have an Excel worksheet that does all of the math and tabling you need to plan and keep track.

Cool thing: I've gotten the bulk of my list done and, out of curiosity, tallied up the rough cost of my main ingredients. It came up costing about $200 a month before the nitty gritty (I didn't put condiments in there, or spices, which I know can add up) It makes me feel good to know that the most expensive things have been accounted for and we're still well within our food budget.

NOW, we just need to do a little of sticking with that food budget. We've found a brand and cut of steak that we adore. So, rather than having a dining out budget, we've just dumped that money into the normal food budget since we've gone back to never going out except for the rare Costco lunch which, if you get hot dogs, costs peanuts.

I've also been looking at this wonderful low fat, Mediterranean cookbook my mother gave me for Christmas a few years back. It has some great-looking grain and bean salads I'm drooling over which would also make great food storage fodder.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Are you my friend?

I havn't kept in contact with people I knew in the state where I was born. There are precious few people with whom I actively communicate from the state where I grew up. There is one person I keep in contact with from the state where I got married. I still chat with a small handful of people from the town where I was an insane newly wed and young mother. There are 3 people I was friends with in CA who still seek me out. No one from TX is in my life at all, except for one crazy Air Force lady who was Princess' Brownie leader. I have one whacky friend I've never met in my life who I nevertheless chat with inexplicably.

I was scrolling through friend lists while waiting for some meds to kick in (I, The Ever Graceful managed to mangle a toenail on a subwoofer) and I realized that my siblings have a lot more friends from the place I claim as my hometown than I do. I have precisely 76 friends, 4 fewer than my youngest (and shyest) sister despite my claim to a far greater pool of acquaintances. My other siblings have three times the number of friends. But I've noticed a trend... they have friended people from my youth who I also knew, but would never consider getting in touch with again. Why not? Meh. I was odd enough that I didn't even realize when my stupidity was burning bridges. I also use a nickname and it's awkward to explain in each friend request who I really am, you really know me, you didn't like me 10 years ago and probably won't still, but let's be friends anyway so I can annoy you by ignoring your pillow fight requests.

It's just an odd feeling to realize that so many of these people still know each other, when I felt that I never did. Don't get me wrong here, I don't feel left out. The close and dear friends I do have are extremely precious to me. I just kind of wonder what it'd be like to grow up with people instead of finding them as relatively well-formed adults.

Yes, friends. Every last one of you is a nerd in some way yet I say you're relatively well-formed.

I didn't say well-adjusted. :)

Love you all!

Pebbles in Prison

The prison of her room, that is. How do you keep a kid from taking off? She was playing by the back window, I turn my back, the next thing I know a maintenance guy is hauling her to my front door saying she was out by the main road.

She was 1 and wandering off to the park by our house, and once a police officer brought her to my door because she figured out how to unlock the front door and was playing in the street.

Too bad child services doesn't let people tether their kids to trees outside. Now I'll just have to lock her in.

Monday, June 08, 2009

my worst nightmare

someone has depicted my worst nightmare ever.

Summer reading program


Man has agreed to a summer reading program that has guaranteed that Princess will continue to read, and that Pebbles will get read to. I'm going to pay Princess 25 cents for reading one book to Pebbles, with a daily max of 25 cents for now. Princess reads a lot anyway, and Pebbles has taken a mighty shine to the volcano book in her lap in the picture, but this is a fun way to reward Princess as well. Now I just need to keep reading to Tag. He gets about half the words anyway, but hasn't quite got the flow of simple reading.

It's nice to have expanded chore charts as well. Mwahahaha. This summer I've added a greater amount of dish duty, laundry lugging, as well as the mentioned reading rigor. My force of child labor is almost ripe for complete household maintenance.

Me vs. Pride -- the ongoing saga

I debated about whether to blog about this since it's embarrassing and really just a complaint, but let's see how funny I can make it. Don't hold your breath.

I've been getting up before the kids and knocking out some bike and arm toning time while watching The Daily Show. I didn't tell anyone because that always seems to jinx it. Accountability has an adverse affect on my productivity when it comes to exercise.

I'm at the highest level of aerobic fitness my bike is programmed for but that isn't saying much. Man can work the bike at the highest level of resistance (which the aerobic programs don't even touch) for about an hour. He dismounts with clothing soaked in honest toil and muscles so tough they'd wear sunglasses indoors and gold chains around their necks if they could. I swear one calf muscle has Dr Dre as its ring tone, the little gangsta wannabe. He can also rip out 79 sit ups in 2 minutes flat. Despite the shoulder, he's in great physical condition.

So, there I was, on a Saturday, wanting to continue my fitness program for another day but feeling like the bike wasn't difficult enough. I got out The 30 Day Shred which I did off and on in Texas but hadn't gotten out in over 3 months. Since Man was in the room and occasionally watching, I did the middling level as opposed to my normal weak-person level. About 5 minutes in, after various attempts at push ups, jumping jacks, stretching I wasn't limbered for, and squats I dipped too far and used weights for, I was in the throes of an asthma attack.

I stole a couple of puffs of Bren's albuterol which I figured was better than a trip to the ER, and was reminded of why I hate taking medicine. I couldn't walk straight for half the day and blamed the albuterol, but the next day I realized my fatal error: I didn't cool down.

Now I can't walk straight because I frickin' burned my muscles. Arms, legs, lats, pecs, everything. Getting on the floor with the nursery kids yesterday was all kinds of torture despite pain meds and getting out of furniture is a constant challenge. We went to a bbq on Saturday and had missionaries and another family over for dinner last night, and all of that was done in exquisite pain. I laughed about it with people, telling thing that I'm walking like someone with severe hemorrhoids, but without the advantage of a legitimate and less-embarrassing excuse. Why was I limping? Because my pride kicked my lily rear end. A lady at church is about my age and limps from severe arthritis. Another guy walks funny because he's MISSING A LEG. My reason? My husband was in the room and I didn't want to look like a total wuss. I wasn't willing to becomes stronger by degrees and pretended like I was at the level I want to be at NOW. I wanted to progress 10 steps in one day and, as a result, I've slid back 15.

A little bike and some stretching today will help work some of the lactic acid out and I'll try hard not to let my butt wiggle like a duck as I limp about my house. It's also hard not to slip back into the pregnant lady waddle I employed for knee and sciatic pain since I strained a ligament in my knee during the warm up and, like an idiot, kept going anyway.

-forehead slap-

Moral of the story, stick to the little stuff if what you can do is little stuff. It's better than laming yourself entirely.

Friday, June 05, 2009

True dat

Click on the picture to view the whole thing

Disturbing letter

Dear ANNIE H,

Thank you for your interest in [You Local] Community College! We have received your financial aid (FAFSA) application information from the Department of Education. Based on an initial review of your Estimated Family Contribution (EFC) and your anticipated financial need you may be eligible for a Pell Grant from the federal government. However, before we can begin processing a financial aid award we must have an application for admission on file for you.

Do you know what this means???

It means that I actually need to apply to the college.

-anxious-


-bites a nail-

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Dried STUFF

I just got my first order from Honeyville Grain. Some of this crazy dried stuff has piqued my curiosity. With the food storage money we're setting aside, I finally bit the bullet and bought a few things to give them a whirl.


My beautiful assistant ate three eggs' worth of rehydrated eggs. They were cooked like scrambled. The taste was "different" but not quite "off"... if that makes sense. Not bad different, especially with some salt and pepper. I'll have to try them in French Toast.



Strawberries. Just like the ones you get in Honey Bunches of Oats with Strawberries. Woot!! Now I can just the much cheaper Honey Bunches of Oats with No Strawberries. Save money? Who knows. I'm going to add them to rice crispy treats, oatmeal, and maybe some muffins. They're gross rehydrated, so I won't be putting them into any water again any time soon.


The BEST kind of banana chips. They're crunchy and sweet. I prefer these to the chewy kind that come out of a standard dehydrator. My kids eat these like candy.



Mango. I'm not sure what to do with this stuff. I don't really care for it and won't be getting it again. It isn't too bad, overall, I'm just not sure how to use it. When it's rehydrated it's bland and mushy.


Egg powder:

Celery: (I never use the whole thing when I get fresh, but I use it in soup)



And my new baby basil is coming up:



The herbs that survived are looking feisty. It's neat to see the cilantro in three leaf stage -- two leaves and thin and blade-like, and the third looks like a graft of ruffly parsley:

Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Reusable shopping bags

Eeeeeew.

Article.

I'm going to wash mine in my high efficiency washer using scent-free, biodegradable soap and a splash of vinegar.

But I WON'T be hanging them to dry. If I do, they'll be ready by Christmas.

(It's humid here)

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

poll

Don't forget to take my new poll over to the right!

Pictures of dirt experiment

I felt bad after the oatmeal incident, wondering if I had just blown a stack of money on a vacuum only to have a lame model on my hands. It is powerful enough? Is it weaker than the old one?

So I sprinkled potting soil on my carpet. Wouldn't you?

Here they are, facing off. I whistled some Old West whistley music and thought about tying bandannas on them somewhere, but I don't have any.


Each one was passed through the dirt once and straight back again. Obviously, the Hoover did better than the Bissell, but I'm still not insanely pleased with the Hoover.

Each one cleaned up one side to gauge overall pickup ability. Still, the Hoover wins. Maybe it is just in my head.


And now I'm using spot remover for the spots that the Bissell left over. We love and use tons of ChemDry spot remover. It got dried strawberry mush out of the carpet today with just a spritz and a dry rag.




So, in conclusion, it's doing great for the amount of money I'm willing to spend on a vacuum. There are better ones out there for twice the price but isn't that the way the world works?

-le sigh-

Product review: Hoover Elite Bagless Canister Vacuum

I saw this at Costco and have been looking at vacuums for a while. It has all of the features I really want in a vacuum, such as the following:

-cord rewind
-long power cord
-canister, which seems to be easier on the back, given how much vacuuming I get to do now
-bagless
-brush can turn off for hard wood
-telescoping handle so I don't have to lean over to operate it

Anyway, great machine. Except the suction is weak. All of those features don't mean a thing if it's going to leave garbage on the carpet. It seems to work alright generally speaking, but today I had to go over a piece of dry oatmeal four times before it would suck it up. Is it my imagination? Who knows. I'm going to do that dirt test thing, with potting soil and my two vacuums competing for glory, honor, and suckiness.

I simply can't afford to allow allergens to languish in the carpet. Do you all have vacuums that you love?

Monday, June 01, 2009

3 days of food for 6 people


They all had a great time with the assembly.

Princess marked bags and carefully checked items off as we went. Tag threw food at us as we asked for it. Pebbles snuck a granola bar and ate it in another room. Freida's hands are the perfect size for grabbing 4 Life Savers at each swipe and she loved putting some in as many bags as we offered her. Man was bored, but oh well. :)

I ended up buying Fruit Rolls ups after all since the fruit nuggets were more perishable than I remembered. Being all natural, they don't keep long in their sterile environment, let alone in snack sized bags. Everything else is as previously outlined.