My sister is actually going to meet me.  Surprise surprise.  She doesn't normally say yes to anything like that.

 

So far I've rebooted the laundry and folded the double-load that was in the dryer (instead of folding the previous load naughty me just threw the new washer load in on top of it so I had twice as much to fold).  Also called my sister, picked up 50 things, and emailed the lawyer.  Oh and the leg doctor called me (the doctor I see for my leg injuries) and he wants to see me again before he'll order more tests.  My legs are actually feeling more bruised than they were.  It's been over 13 months and the problem isn't going away.  Anyway it's like a half day to see him since he's an hour away and my apptmt is on New Year's Eve at 9AM so we'll be nice and sleeping by midnight.  Yippee! NOT

 

Before I come back I want to:

 

Pick up another 50

Take a quick shower and get dressed

Unload the dishwasher

Put the thank you note in the mail (got it all the way upstairs by my key crock)

Blech I have a headache now.  It feels like a hangover-type headache.  Like the front of my head is all stuffed with cotton.

 

Okay I took a shower, got dressed, did the oil of olay thing but no makeup yet

Picked up almost 100 so the kitchen and dining room are picked up but need to be cleaned yet

Bleached half of kitchen sink - other half is soaking now

Rebooted the laundry and folded/put away what was in the dryer.  About one more load and I can start doing bedding which will be a ton

Unloaded the dishwasher

 

I didn't put the thank you note in the mail yet - forgot until I saw it on here.  I'll try to remember to do it on the way out the door.

 

The leaf truck is here - I got the leaves done just in time.  I wish I'd been able to do them all and not just the ones on the grass.  There are just as many in the mulched beds especially the cemetery.  And I haven't even looked at the back yard!

 

Also called the insurance company about a statement I got saying I didn't owe a doctor a co-pay but I paid them one so I wanted to double-check - then called that doctor and asked them to mail my co-pay back.  Only $15 but still!

 

Oh yeah and I cut my hair - gave myself bangs again and tried to straighten them which is a lost cause.  So they are semi-straight but that's okay.  I cut them wet and they were past my top lip but dried, even semi-straightened, they are just below my eyebrows.  Probably should have gone longer...  But I only did a very thin amount just because I wanted something to soften my wrinkled old face a little.

 

I want to leave here around 11 or so to be able to get the doctor's note and some groceries on the way to meet my sister.  I doubt I'll be able to get much more done which is a shame since I basically won't be home again 'til late tonight.  I have to take the kids right off the bus to Gettysburg to C's doctor and they want to go to the Santa Shop after that.  I'm thinking I'll come home first and make dinner and then we'll go to the school for the Santa Shop which doesn't close 'til 8.  I'm bummed nobody asked me to volunteer in it this year but in reality I probably couldn't have and it's just as well.  I'm thinking maybe I didn't check it off on the PTA volunteer sheet at the beginning of the year because of McDonald's?  My kids love when I volunteer in it because they spend the entire time wandering around looking at stuff or they get to help bag or wrap the kids' gifts.  We couldn't go last night because of B's dr apptmt and then C's Rocky apptmt and then I was going to give blood but when I got there the Red Cross wouldn't take it because of my antibiotics.  It would have been my first time and I was nervous so I was happy to not have to do it.  It was for a Cub Scout drive and I was doing it so Braeden would get his patch.  Scott gave blood for Chane to get his.  Probably wouldn't have been good with  my dizzy spells anyway!

 

Gotta go brush my teeth (yes, I know gross that I wait so long but I need diet pepsi to wake up and soda spoils the taste so I end up waiting).  Also my makeup and gather up some stuff for groceries and shopping...

Wow, it sounds like you're doing quite well for being dizzy!! I could NOT function when I was dealing with the dizzy stuff. Actually, today I'm feeling super light-headed and a little woozy. But, I spent the morning shopping so that could have contributed to it.

 

I hope you have a good time shopping with your sister!

 

That sucks about your legs, man, I can't get over them still bothering you that long after the accident!

 

I read your other post but I'll have to respond later. I checked out those cars and those look awesome! He'd love something like that. I was down the car aisle today at Wal-mart and just got him 2 hot wheels for his stocking as I figure those would be a good diaper bag thing and if they get lost, they were only $1. I think I'm done shopping but dh always likes to get a few things for them a few days before Christmas (since I do most of the buying) so maybe I'll suggest that to him or tell him to look for them.

 

Welll, I just found out this potluck dinner we were going to go to on Sat. (no kids allowed) is NOT just our small group but a whole bunch of people from church. So nice of the host to tell us that. I'm sure it would be ok but when you're expecting only a few couples that you know fairly well, to have a bunch of other people is somewhat a pain. I'm ticked that we were not told this though I did assume it. So, dh and I might have a date which I'd rather do anyways. We never get people to watch the kids so that time is pretty precious and I wouldn't want to 'waste' that time on something that would be awkward. We might see a movie. We'll see!

 

Timmy's sleeping so I'm going to try to work hard. Having a clean front hall has motivated me to work on the rest of the house. My front hall is SO hard to keep clean. Dumb white ceramic tiles show every little piece of dirt. If I wanted it spotless, I'd have to sweep every time someone walked on it. And, to have the kids come in in the morning, then get ready for school, then the same thing after school, well, to skip sweeping there for a week, it looks AWFUL.

 

I think I'll make up a list but I'll do it in the next post.

 

 

-bring in stuff from van, put away groceries (just got milk and some granola bars, I think)

-wrap dh's present (I'm stupid.... I complain about money yet just put $450 on my credit card as I got him a PS3. I could see him taking it back... but, every year, I skimp out on him cause it's so freakin' hard to buy for him. he keeps on joking about getting one and I told him that if I felt better about money (we'd have to be millionaires and then I'd still probably worry), I'd totally get him one. So, I think he'll be quite shocked as I already said I wanted to but I admitted that there's no way I could justify it and he said yeah, he knows. I want this to be the Christmas Story gift. lol You know where all the presents under the tree are opened and then the dad says, hey, what's that beside the desk and it's the red rider bb gun?! I'm not going to tell the girls cause they'll let it out. Heck, I have no clue how I'm going to keep this from him for 20 days cause I'm super excited cause he'll pee his pants when he sees it! But, I need to wrap it ASAP cause I know if I don't, I'll likely leave it out and then he'll see it. I need to find a good place to hide it though. Hmm... too bad I couldn't use the sink as he never does dishes. lol)

-dishes, clean up counters

-CLEAR ISLAND!!!

-gather up counter chips and sort into ones I like

-double check Em's soccer stuff and add anything to the bag that she might need

-figure out supper

-parent/teacher interviews: 5 and 5:15

-sweep up glass the dumb cat knocked over, grrr... and I missed him?!

-make our bed

-strip the girls bed... your list and changing your bed sheets reminded me that D peed last night... it's so weird, she won't pee in a pull-up but the night she doesn't have one on, she pees.

-load into wash, dry, put away, put away load in dryer, put away any folded clothes in my room

-clean up kitchen floor (clear), sweep/mop

-quick sweep of front hall

-call to make ultrasound appt... should have done that a long time ago

-make a rough outline of day tomorrow... it's a PD Day. ahhh Figure out lunch

-call karen- ask her about Andrea and tell her we're going on Wed.

-look up extinguisher places in yelllow pages

-clear off white shelves

-vacuum couches, pick up living room, sweep and mop (MUST BE DONE BEFORE I GO TO BED)

-check jello

-cut up pineapple for after school snack

-figure out if I'm going to get that electric wood stove, find where morriston is

-find cheque from nanny

i'm not really dizzy.  just a little light-headed and woozy like you.  i had a moment in the shower and one other moment where i got dizzy but nothing like i have been.  i'm also not functional when dizzy!

 

i hope you have fun whatever you decide to do on saturday.  the bigger thing might take you out of your comfort level in a good way but i could definitely see having a much-needed date as being more fun!

 

have you tried throw rugs for the foyer.  i'd hate having white ceramic.  our old foyer tile was white-ish and a pain also so i understand.  the new foyer vinyl tile i put down a couple of years ago is terra-cotta - much nicer!!!  congrats on getting your front hall clean though.  btw ceramic tile is not that expensive and relatively easy to put down (we did our family room) so maybe it can go on your list one day to replace it.  i'd love to replace the family room but it's so large - a foyer or hallway i'd replace in a heartbeat though.  we rented a wetsaw and i even did all the cuts myself with my huge pregnant belly along for the ride.  as long as you can cut yourself some slack on total perfectionism - our laundry and boys' bath were done by a professional and they are not perfect either.  i'd be thrilled with our family room if it wasn't grouted in white but i'm too lazy to regrout plus i can't imagine another color that would look okay with the very light cremey beige shiny tiles.

 

hot wheels are awesome for take-along toys.  keep an eye on them - the wheels pop  off easily but if he gets them new and doesn't chew on them they should be okay.  my kids are hard on toys so they break more than most kids' toys plus chane always chewed his cars.

 

LOL on the sink for hiding the gift.  i hope it goes like you planned with the surprise!  that would be so cool!  we are not exchanging but scott has been talking about a new camera since the one he got me a few years ago has a problem where anytime there is low light it lengthens the exposure time for some reason so everything is totally blurred.  like the shutter stays open for a couple of seconds instead of just an instant so everything has a tail.  he bought a camera for $69 at the walmart black friday sale he went to at 5AM but said he's returning it because we can't afford it plus it's not that great of a camera.  so i used the last day of my consumer reports subscription to research cameras and asked my sister and i think we can get a really decent one for about $130.  i was going to buy it and put it in the bottom of his otherwise empty stocking and pretend i didn't know where it came from but i wound up telling him the other night.  i'm not good at keeping surprises!  plus i thought it would be nice for him to have it during the holidays.  so i told him to find one he likes for about $130 and he has my "permission" to buy it.  christmas just takes away the money guard doesn't it???

 

well i had a semi-productive day although it doesn't seem like i got much done.  my sister sarah did go shopping with  me and she saw something she liked so i went back after her and got it.  so now i know i have a good gift for her.  she liked the store we went to.  i wish i could explain it but it's just row after row of every kind of ornament and christmas thing you can think of.  all in old cement-floored shed.  i found a few things too - chane collects gingerbread men so i got him a stuffed one plus an ornament plus a ceramic house that holds a nightlight and is about a foot tall and very cute.  he will love it.  and i got a few things picked up and my hair cut but taht's about it!  traffic was so horrible taking chane to the doctor that here it is almost 5:30 and i'm just really getting back so that kind of sucks.  i need to go find dinner fixin's and get ready to take them to the secret santa shop.  i think i'll drill a little more too.  are you around?

I think I'm going to go to the school around 7 because the shop closes at 8 and that way the crowds should be gone (I hope).  So that gives me 90 minutes to do a few things including making dinner.

 

Before I come back I will:

 

Pick up 50 more things

Reboot the laundry

Strip our bed and Chane's bed

Make dinner

Clean up dinner

okay, here goes:

 

picked up over 100 things

scrubbed stovetop

filled dw with rinse agent, loaded dw including stove burners and started

rebooted laundry

sorted remaining bedding into 3 piles (5 loads of bedding - yikes!)

sorted socks

helped kids with homework, signed c's agenda

 

i'm exhausted.  i really need a whole overnight of just cleaning - that really helps me this time of year.  things are really starting to build up!  i'm not ready to do heavy cleaning yet - every time i think of it i think how i'd have to redo it but i probably should go ahead and do it anyway in case we all get sick or something later.  i hate waiting to the last minute but i also hate things getting messed back up!  i'm going to make a list for this wknd - my MIL is coming for "making christmas" weekend.  cookies, tree, movie, hot chocolate, etc.  man if it wasn't for my MIL's visits, would my house ever get cleaned up???

oh yeah and drank 3 glasses of water which really did help - still having a hot flash but my face feels less papery

Ok, taking a break as the kids are playing down here and my back is killing me from standing for so long. I've been doing lots of kitchen stuff (I forgot how much having daycare kids here during the day means I'm in the kitchen cooking, making snack, washing TONS of dishes, etc.)

 

Yeah, the thing tomorrow may actually be a good thing but I think I'm just ticked that we were lead to believe it was a small group thing. So, knowing that I'm ticked, it makes me want to boycott it. Plus, my good friends in the group won't be there. lol Dumb excuse. But, now that I have it in my head that we could have a date, I'd much rather do that.

 

We do have a large rug in the front hall when you come in. We could have a long one down the hall but I think it would look funny. Plus, I'm finding it almost harder to deal with the rugs than if I just have the empty floor space to sweep. I put it off more if there's things to deal with on the floor, as sad as that is! Changing that tile is most definitely on our short term to do list. The kitchen has the original tile (we think) so a lot of it is cracked plus it's off-white. Looks REALLY bad with the white with light green swirled ceramic. My word, I hate that white tile. I'd almost take the off-white, worn looking stuff over this bright, green swirly stuff. I think I'd go with darker tile so when picking out the counter, we're trying to keep that in mind. Very hard though!

 

lol, that's what I'm afraid of doing (like you did with the camera.) But, so far, I've managed. I want to hint to the girls too but then I know something will come out. We watched A Christmas Story and it just made me so antsy. I really hope my plan works!! Of course, it's been less than 24 hrs oh wait, just OVER 24 hrs! hehe 20 days to go!

 

That sounds like a cool store! I'm not sure we have one like that around here. Woohoo on the gift for your sister too. Very sneaky of you. lol

 

Hmm, so your sister won't participate in Christmas with you? That's a load off your shoulders if it is! I couldn't imagine jumping into Christmas right now having not celebrated it all my life.

 

I ended up finding small little craft/bead organizers and using egg cartons for the rest of the days (I think it only had 15 squares.) So, they looked bad and tacky but they worked and the kids were happy!

 

Good job on the thank you card!

 

Whoa, 3 months of meals?! Yeah, that's a lot! lol I wonder if the plain thing is a kid thing. My kids are pretty plain too.

 

Yes, I need to do the counters. augh, it's a big stress cause I'm afraid we'll pick the wrong one. I was that way a bit with paint but I knew that paint was relatively cheap and could easily be changed. Counters, uh, not so much. I see stuff I like, I just don't know if it goes with the cherry wood we have a lot of and I'd like to replace the cupboards way down the road with that. Plus the flooring. ack It's hard to picture that in my head and not care if it doesn't match now. of course, if it's absolutely gross, I won't go with that cause chances are, we'll have to live with whatever we choose for a while, without change. Ah, I hope that made sense. lol

 

Yup, that definitely sounds like Andrew's work. It just ticks me off HUGELY. If they're getting the work done, what is the big freakin' deal if they are 2 mins late? They expect you to be ready to go for 9 meaning you should actually be getting there beforehand and using that time to check mail and make your to do lists, etc. Um, sorry, no. If it's work related, it should be on work's time, not your own time. Andrew says all he has to do is walk in, sit down and turn on his computer and he's ready. he doesn't need 15 mins to do that.

 

Hmm, I've never heard of Pristiq. I wonder how I would have felt if I was on a time-release pill. I'm fairly sure mine was not.

 

I laughed my head off at reading about the 2 fighting cats. I almost feel that way with Timmy and Winnie. Though, one is human of course. Who knew I'd be a referee between a cat and kid?!

 

Ok, I think I answered what I wanted to! I'm REALLY hoping to be done daycare in 45 mins. Well, hopefully sooner but I'm not going to count on that. I will be quite disappointed if their dad shows up later than the normal pick up time. grrr I'm extremely wiped. Timmy went down for a later nap, almost 2 and I think it'll be a long nap because he went to bed late last night and woke up early. So, it would be awesome if I could catch a really quick cat nap with T after the kids go home. Shoot, Braelyn is supposed to be here 4-5. Hmmm I'll hope they'll be late. hehe

 

Working on some more baking. I'm hoping to whip up a choc. cake (I found it on this cool blog site pioneerwoman.com?? not sure of the exact site.) She claims it's the best choc. cake ever made. I've made her twice-baked potatoes (can you believe I've never made those before?) and Andrew loooved them, so did I. I'm making these muffins right now and I'm hoping to make another rave recipe of cinnamon rolls. I need some instant coffee for the icing though. Oh yeah, she posts these recipes from a Pastor friend, I think. I tried his pasta carbonara. It was quite good! I like these sites cause they usually post pictures, it comes from 'real' people so I tend to think the recipe will turn out if they say it will. And, it gives me the kick I need to make something good for my family.

 

Ok, gotta get off the chair before I fall asleep.