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That is the day I return to work!  Yep- I am off until then.  How wonderful is that?  I am supposed to work from home on Tuesday, but yesterday my neighbor came over to look after Jenna while I got the work done already.  On Tuesday Jenna and I have to go get the work signed and then run it by the office but other than that- no work!!  They took pity on me seeing Jenna does not start school until Wednesday and Open House is on Tuesday I would have only been able to make it in for a couple hours.  Then I had already taken Wednesday and Thursday off.  Jenna will go to school on Wednesday then right after we are heading to the shore.  We are going to stay in Seaside Heights, NJ at the Cranbury Inn.  We will arrive on Wednesday night and spend Thursday on the beach.  We come home Friday but we plan to stay the whole day and come home that night.  I am thinking if we are having barrels of fun we may just book for one more night when we get down there- we will see how the weather goes and how much we are liking it. 

This weekend we aren't up to a whole lot.  Brian is changing the oil in both of the vehicles.  We will go have something to eat.  Later this evening we are heading to Mark and Jamie's place to hang out.  Tomorrow is the picnic at Brian's moms house.  Monday we have nothing planned so I am thinking I am going to drag out my scrapbook and finish the two pages I have needed to finish for weeks now.  Monday I am also going to get everything packed that I can so I just have last minute things to put in on Wednesday after I take Jenna to school.  She is SO excited about going!!  She says every time she puts a pair of her flip flops on that she will wear them to the beach.  At this rate I will have 5 pair packed if I am not careful LOL! 

That's about all for now.  I think I will head out to do the mini grocery shopping I need to do for this week! 

Ciao

My friend in Michigan has become a consultant for  Beauti Control

She sent me a supply of skin care products which I have been using for about 6 weeks.  I really love them!  They give my skin a healthy look and a smooth feel.  The best part of the whole thing is how Quick the whole treatment is!  I use a foam, scrub and mask which you put all in your hand at the same time, wash and rinse.  Then I put on the toner and let it dry for a couple minutes then apply the moisturizer.  It all takes less than 5 minutes and the results are fantastic!! 

I have decided I am going to buy the starter kit that they have on special for $99 until the end of September.  This will sign me up as a consultant and give me training.  Christine is going to come out one weekend and do several spas at my house that weekend.  If you are close enough you should plan to attend one so I can practice my first spas on people I know!!

Also, if I am able to sell $250 worth of products before I become a consultant I get a ton of extra things!  So, if I can get 25 people to purchase just $10 worth of product I will have a lot more things to start my business off with.  Take a look at the page linked above and email me at my yahoo address or reply to my post here and tell me what you would like to order.  I have to get with Chris yet about how we go about getting the orders placed for me so once you tell me what you want I will let you know if I will place the order for you or if you should order off a special website! 

Please consider trying some things out and then when you come to a spa you can learn more about it.  I also wanted to share that I love the hand treatment.  It is a prescrub and then a lotion.  It makes your hands feel fantastic and it helps dry hands greatly!! 

Thanks everyone and I hope to hear back from you all soon!  Send this information on to people you know who you think may like it too!  And please friend me on this blog so you can keep up with this continuing endeavor with me!!

Thanks everyone!!!

My dear, gorgeous, loving friend and new SAHM (green here) did a brown and blue swap last month and had SO much fun that I decided to join the next swap.  So I joined the....



on the Flickr site.  I had to do a like/dislike list and I thought mine was going to be short and sick.  Little did I know once I got started I had a TON of things I thought of for both.  I think we are getting our swap person sometime this week.  I am so excited!!

Love,

Me!! 

So, today Jenna and I made what is now our Friday ritual trip to Wegmans in Allentown. She loves going to the kids playroom while I do my hour to hour and a half shopping trip. So today I shopped, went to deposit my bags in my car, went to tell the playroom attendant I would be over at the food court then planned on getting lunch to take home. Well, Jenna spotted me and I asked her if she wanted to stay or come along..she opted to come with me. They gave me a picture she had colored, everything pretty much in the lines and were falling all over me about how impressed they were. I guess I just expect the best from her so I was not quite as impressed as they. What kind of kids do they get in there anyhow?!

So, we wander over to the food side, smelling so good we opted for the chinese cuisine. It is good, though expensive. So we load up 2 containers to take home. Jenna wanted to eat NOW so I talked her into a cookie to tide her over until we made it home. I asked Mrs. Fields behind the counter how much they were, expecting a $(fill in the blank) for a dozen. Instead I was told $9.99 a pound. In my head, a pound of cookies would be about the size of a family sized bag of chips ahoy! So, I asked for 2 chocolate chip with nuts and 2 with no nuts. Then being the great mommy that I am I spotted an iced flower cookie and asked J is she wanted one to which I got a great big YES! She picked "blue" (natually!). Then Mrs. Fields told me she would put the blue cookie in the bag and give Jenna a cookie for the trip home. So she pulled out a smaller than the display cookies cookie for my cookie! She was happy! Then she handed me the bag of my purchase with the price sticker on it. She could have given me the free mini cookie before I got the sticker shock of $6.61!! I expected a couple dollars for 5 cookies. Was there gold waiting for me at the end I wondered? Were the cookies made by Mrs. Fields HERSELF?? Gasp! But, being me I took them. And took the chinese food and had a bill total of $23 for a 2 much less then full containers for lunch and cookies!! Mind you, the food is good, but woah!

So, tonight, once Jenna had taken off with her Nana and Mr. Big had gone to bed for his early day tomorrow I went and opened the $6.61 bag of cookies. I took out a chocolate chip with nuts, heated it for 6 seconds in the microwave, grabbed my cup of Sheetz decaf coffee Mr. Big had brought me home when he went for a fill up, sat on the sofa with no TV on, windows closed, no noise and savored every last morsel. The cookie was excellent, make no mistake. But the moment was even better. Alone, just me and my gold nugget of cookies. I tasted the sweetness of peace.

In replying to a friend's blog about her fear of letting her youngest go to school tomorrow and wondering if he really is a little scared, though he would never show that fear to her, made me think. This is my reply to her with some things added. How do we, as mothers, allow them to fly, but at the same time hang on as tight as we can??

Starting now we have to let go, little by little. The smaller the better for us, but them seeing it as being bigger than it is helps them even more. I let SO many things go so often as to Not stifle. It's my biggest fear. Make her like I was- I would have failed. Make her the complete opposite of me- Success!! When she is climbing the outside of the stairs and for no other reason then my own fears should she get down, I let her go, say a little prayer and hope for the end of the stunt soon. Surfing on the back of the sofa-same deal. Her request for a skateboard and to surf like on Johnny Kapahalia would so be answered if we had a place to surf! So we have to let go but just don't let them know how tight we are still really hanging on! Impossible balance to achieve? I think we would never tell our children something is impossible, so why not believe in ourselves?

We went to a dinner buffet at the country club/golf course. The band was playing and we danced all night and watched fireworks in between. Jenna said as we were getting ready she was on her way to her wedding with Mason. Mason's mommy said on their real wedding day Mason is taking a nap first! Mind you little Marlowe Jane (2) had a couple good hours of rump shakin left in her!!

Nope...its not my degree. It's the support group that I need to become the founder of. Big Brother Anonymous. I not only watch the show 3 days a week on network TV, but I watch (or at least scan thru) 3 hours every night on Showtime. It runs from Midnight to 3am so I usually watch it on TiVo, however when something exciting is going on I have been known to try to make it all the way to 3am. I am sure this is part of the reason I have not been feeling well lately. I have not been getting a good sleep! I also read the updates on the Jokers update sites and when it looks like something good is happening or is going to happen I turn on the live feeds! Is there a clinic??

1. Who was your best friend? Lyanna
2. Did you play any sports? Nope
3. What kind of car did you drive? My dad got me a 1980 blue chevette that had a "Kiss a Cashier" License plate on it when he bought it and he wouldnt take it off LOL
4. It’s Friday night. Where were you? Football game, Movies or bowling
5. Were you a party animal? not in the least
6. Were you considered a flirt? No, that didn't kick in for a couple years afterwards
7. Were you in the band, orchestra or choir? Band, played the flute since 5th grade
8. Were you a nerd? No
9. Were you ever suspended or expelled? Never
10. Can you sing the fight song? Honestly do not think we had one..we didn't fight all that hard LOL
11. Who was your favorite teacher? Ms Eiler for English
12. What was your school mascot? Eagle
13. Did you go to the Prom? no
14. If you could go back, would you? I probably would
15. What do you remember most about graduation? Oh so many things! The screams when I walked across (the benefit of your last name starting with a "Y" so you were the last one to go across), my mom crying, Angela giving me bobby pins in the bathroom, all the pictures outside
16. Where were you on Senior Skip Day? I didn't go to school from January to June- only went to the graduation activities so I was at home
17. Did you have a job your senior year? No
18. Where did you go most often for lunch? Cafeteria
19. Have you gained weight since then? Oh yea
20. What did you do after graduation? Hung out with BP and WF for as long as I could then went to my house for several people to come over and have cake and open some gifts. The next day went to Cedar Point
21. What year did you graduate? 1987
22. Who was your Senior Prom Date?
23. Are you going/did you go to your 10 year reunion? I did not. I keep in touch with everyone I would care to see. (ok well almost everyone but the others I am sure wouldnt come either)

Look at what is at the end of MY Rainbow!!

I guess since it has been 2 years since a set of childhood shots I forgot some of the things that happen after them!! Jenna was a little whiney, but heck that is her most of the time lately LOL, but she was in more of an on the edge of meltdown mode. She told me her arm hurt and kept complaining about it so I gave her some Motrin. She went to bed and was watching TV and I could see she was tired so I shut the TV off and within 5 minutes she was out. This was about 10:30ish. She slept pretty well just moving around quite a bit. At 12:00 I put her in her own bed and went to bed myself. About 1ish she started thrashing, crying, more than her usual night terrors when she has them. She was awake this time. Wouldnt let me cover her, did not want me to talk to her, hold her, touch her. She just sobbed for a few minutes. I kept asking her what hurt and she would just say "dont ask me that!" Poor pudd. She asked for the TV on and rolled, kicked, etc some more but finally relaxed. The next thing I knew it was 4:30 and Brian was in the room shutting off the TV and taking Jenna to pee. She went right back to sleep after that waking up only one more time and we slept until 10!! I was going to leave at 11 and work early today- not happening LOL! I will shoot for 12 now. She seems ok this morning- pretty happy. It was funny when she woke up she woke me up and said "I can't sleep" then I looked at the clock and thought..well, its no wonder! I cant believe I did not wake up between her last wake up and then! I must have been worn out from yesterday too!

Today after we went and looked at another dud of a house, we went to the Muhlenberg Carnival. It started at 5:00 and we got there right then. It was 5:20 before we could buy tickets (a wristband) and that long before any of the vendors were open. Some of the rides were not even ready yet. They had not blown up the larger bouncer by 5:30! Jenna went thru a sort of fun house that was all on the outside and had a slide at the end, then she did the helicopters. Being so early there were only a few little kids even riding, so when we got to the helicopters no one else was in line to ride and unfortunately, no one else came along. Now, anyone who knows Jenna knows how she LOVES to ride anything! The child got BORED on this ride she was on for SO LONG. Brian and I were on a bench in front of it, he decided to go looking for something to drink in a bottle (pushing cups with no lids in a stroller on lumpy grass sucks!) and to see if the pretzels were done cooking yet (another thing that wasnt ready when I asked for one at 5:15!). He came back and we had a few bites of pretzel. It was beginning to feel like I was watching a horror movie with the bad guy sticking the victim on a kiddie helicopter ride and just keep it going until the are ready for the bloody scene! I had just told Brian to go tell the guy to let her off when he started slowing it down. She got off and said to me "I was on that FOREVER!!!" lol. Poor kid! We did a few more things, rode the pony (not included in the bracelet mind you) and got out of there. What a horrible event!!

So she saw the nurse first who took her blood pressure (89/50 I think- I Know I got the 50 right), weight (38lbs 75%) height (41" 75%)and had me fill out a form. I was supposed to stop when I got 3 NOs picked. I picked the 3rd no on the very last answer. The Dr. came in and looked at it and told me she is developmentally 6 years old (that is as high as it tests). He said her weight is excellent and her BMI will be awesome (whew! and we plan to keep it that way!!). She actually held a nice conversation with him, a lot of time she will not talk to him but he is just super sweet so how could she resist LOL. We talked about night terrors- he said around 5 or 6 years old they should end, just reassure her and know that she doesnt even remember it happening in the morning (which is true). The asthma issue- he wants her back on the Flovent before the Specialist does, so I am going to start it when she starts back to preschool. He asked how much fish she eats. I laughed! He said nuts work too, which she loves! But he wants me to get an Omega 3 to give to her because studies are showing it helps asthma .

Now the not so good news. We did the eye test at the end. We have to see a pediatric opthamologist.(however you spell that) Her vision is 20/50. Poor thing couldn't read the chart until 4 lines up. She would try a couple letters and tell us she couldnt see it. And she knows all her letters so I don't really *think* that is it, though the letters are odd on the charts. So I called one and a visit is at least $150 depending on what they find. Only thing we are not covered for! ugh.

She got 3 shots...Chickenpox, polio, Hep A. She will get her MMR with her flu shot in October. She cried but recovered very quickly! Gladys went w/me so she took Jenna out to get a sticker and wait for me to talk to the Dr about her eyes. He also checked my head for me LOL and gave me some dermatologist names.

We then went to a lame carnival and out to eat. Now Jenna and daddy are outside playing! I am off to join them!

Ciao!

On Sunday night Jenna wanted to take a shower. She has done this before with me when I wash her hair etc, and she has done in alone to wash up and play in it, but she never took a real shower alone. She kept asking so I started the water for her and sat her shampoo, conditioner and soap where she could reach it and gave her a washcloth. She washed her hair, conditioned it, washed her bod, turned off the water, got out and wrapped up in a towel all on her own. The only time she needed help was when she needed a dry rag to wipe her wet eyes (dont we all) and she asked me to wrap her hair in a towel like I do mine. I had to run 2 cups of water over her head to get a little soap residue out but other than that she did very well. She was in forever too so I can imagine how this is going to be when she is older!! Awww...my baby!

I am not so into scrapbooking that I do swaps and become a consultant or anything like that, but I do like my pages to look decent and have a good journal on them and I am happy.  Today I went to my friend's house to work on my books on the tables she set up in her basement (thanks for my own table LIz!!!) and had tons of working room!  Jenna and Andrew entertained themselves (with the help of Uncle Tom too - thanks Uncle Tom- I owe you a Squirt and a Faygo!!) while I worked and Liz did things to keep herself from working at home like she was supposed to be LOL.  Anyhow, the most challenging page I ever had to do is finally done.  I thought about and worried on this page for weeks.  I started to work on it, but I kept looking at the photo of Jenna and Grandmom from behind and KNEW there was something there- something that picture was SAYING but I just could not hear it.  I finally found the poem on the internet and while I was sitting there considering if I should redo the words on the page that Liz printed over on accident it hit me....So, here it is.  I hope it does Grandmom even half the justice she deserves! 

We miss you Grandmom!!

share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8JYsWTls1dZ

Hopefully the link works...if not copy and paste!! 

Well, Friday the 13th had a few bumps in it but all in all was a very good day.  To start with - the afternoon before the woman at work is a new Grandma as of Thursday afternoon so we are all excited and thrilled about that!!! 

Friday was BUSY!  I got up and got Jenna ready for her last day at week long camp at the park through the YMCA.  Then I had to run to the post office and the bank.  When I got home Brian was home and out of the shower ready to head out.  I grabbed a short slim jim stick and we discussed stopping for something quick on the way.  Well, between here- driving thru B.F.E. to get to the turnpike there was nothing.  So we hop on the turnpike and I had to take the exchange.  We finally got off of that and had directions to follow.  They sucked!!  We passed our exit (not knowing we did but figured it out from the time we should have been there) so I got off the next exit which turned out to be another bypass so it was a divided highway!  I had to get off of there, go down the street, get back on that bypass to get back to the one we were on.  Then I was going to get off an exit and Brian told me it was the wrong one.  He finally got the clinic on the phone and it turns out the directions they mail us come from the MICHIGAN office!!  WTF!?  I yelled to the phone they better have some Xanax for me when I get there.  I knew that I would be seen by the Dr after the seminar in the order that I arrived so I was gunning for a half hour early.  We left our house at 11am and I was the 4th (and turned out to be last) person to arrive!!  Did you notice anything in the story up there?  NO Stopping for lunch.  I was so upset and was getting a migraine.  I was sure this was shaping up to be a mistake! 

We finally arrive and I was happy to see it was right outside of a mall (for quick food after the appt!!) I had more paperwork to fill out when I got there.  The Doctor who ran the seminar was of a Russian background so she took a few minutes to get used to.  She was very thorough and answered almost every question I had before I even had to ask it.  Then we had a potty break and they started to take people back to see the Doctor.  I read 2 Time magazines and went pee once before she came in.  She was really kind and went through everything with me.  Because of family history I am supposed to see a Cardiologist for an evaluation due to family history.  I also have some bloodwork to get which I will do later this week.  She asked that I lose 10 pounds before surgery for certain and try for more to make it easier for her to get the scope in and move around.  Your liver also shrinks when you are eating low fat so it is not in the way of the stomach during surgery.  She warned me that because of genetic problems with my spleen and scar tissue from that surgery that I can very well wake up and she would have not done anything.  She is confident that this will not happen, but it is a possibility I have to have in my mind.  I will in fact be devastated if this happens.  She told me I was a very good candidate for the surgery due to my commitment to all the things I have tried to do so far.  She said I will stay on plan and follow the directions which will make my loss work the way it should.  I have to take certain supplements forever after the surgery so I am going through my cupboards tomorrow to see which I already have (know I bought things a couple months back) and buy what I don't have.  I have to start getting in the habit of taking them everyday and I am SO bad at taking pills!!  I need some kind of talking alarm everyday that yells at me until I put the pills in my mouth LOL!  I also have to eat low fat, low carb, high protein, high fiber, no caffeine (not a problem as I cannot tolerate it!), 64oz water a day.  I shopped today to start this on Monday.  Also on the mornings its not 100 degrees at 9am I plan to walk.  I also am going to write a schedule out that works with the way I work and all so I can do the 6 meal a day thing and NOT skip breakfast.  I have NEVER been a breakfast eater so I got some Carnation Instant to use.  I also got some Kashi cereal that is really high in protein and fiber.  So, Monday starts phase one of nu-sandy.

I stopped by my PCP office to get the name of a cardiologist seeing I had no idea where to start.  He told me to set an appt. up there for a consultation and EKG.  If the EKG is clean there is not a cardiologist who will even see me simply for family history!  So I am going to have them do and fax the report in hopes that they accept it.  I have that appt on August 10th.  I am hoping that they accept this and get my insurance approval for an October surgery date.  I know from other people they are about 2 months out plus my mother in law has vacation in Oct.  I would hope to have someone come out to help me a couple days of a week for my surgery then the next week while I recoup can be her vacation.  Let's pray everything goes smooth and I can get the dates I need. 

In other news, after the appt we went to the Mall to eat then headed for home.  Seeing it was rush hour in the Philly area we traveled on the pike at about 10 miles an hour for about half an hour and was pretty slow and busy the rest of the time.  Once we got home I checked the mail and there was a check in there from our insurance company in the amount of our home owners insurance.  It turns out it is in out mortgage payment so I didnt need to pay it!!  Thank God!!  We were short because of Brian being off around the 4th of July and he didn't use vacation days.  So I went to BJs and stocked up on some things like soap, shampoo, water and chicken.  I have one thing to take back because I bought Brian the wrong contact solution stuff.  Plus now we have some mula mula for the Fireman's carnival which is this next week! 

That's all for now - will update more about the surgery and things when I get any info.  I won't hear from them until mid-August anyhow. 

We drove out on the motorcycle today with Mark and Jamie and found the Alpaca farm that Jenna and I happened upon one day.  They were a ton of them, but they were all inside in the air conditioning.  Two of them finally ventured out and one was peeking out from the housing.  They are just so adorable!! 

I added the pics of the scrapbook pages I have done this weekend.  I am on a creative block lately so they are pretty simple.  I have some brads to use.  I also have a tag maker that I have no idea how to use.  I have a fastenater I was trying to sell on ebay but things did not sell so I guess I will use them.  I just need to get together with someone to work with to get my creative juices flowing again.  I also need something that I can die cut my own letters.  I am sick of stencils and stickers.  I am just not sure what to get.  Have to get some ideas from my cafe moms group I guess!  Anyhow....page 8 and 9 have the new pictures on them!  I am not sure if this link will work or not but hopefully!! 

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/pictures;jsessionid=5FCC6625C3B7CD542EE4A929EB0EA685?a=67b0de21b353f830456e&sid=8JYsWTls1c_

I took pictures of tons of my scrapbook pages and loaded them on Shutterfly.  This link SHOULD take you there but who knows!  Let me know! 

Peace out!

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8JYsWTls1cu

Copy and paste it.  I have to work on making a links!!