Friday Night Leftovers

Cleaning out the mental fridge...photos to follow sometime.

1. A week at Safety Town wrapped up today and I am so impressed with the program our local fire and police put on with these kids. C can tell you what to do in many different types of emergencies. However, he's now like a hall monitor around here. Remember those annoying kids? Seriously, I'm glad the safety is important to him. I've already heard where I need more smoke alarms and he placed an "X" on many items under the kitchen sink that he should not touch. Yeah Safety Town! Plus he looks so cute in his firefighter t-shirt, badge, and hat.

2. 7 days until vacation. Am I ready? Not even close. STRESS!

3. Two great aunties I've not seen in over 20 years came by for a visit; it was so nice to hear family stories since my grandfather passed away in 1995 and I've not heard some of these stories. Along those lines, my cousin and her extended family came to visit and we all had a blast catching up with one another.

4. C has his 1st ear infection since getting his 2nd set of tubes. Nothing like yellow goo oozing out of your kid's ear.

5. Did I mention 7 days until vacation?

6. Thanks to my crazy stylist, C is sporting a blue mohawk as of this afternoon. No, it's not permanent, but he sure wishes it were.

7. I think maturity sneaks up on you in devious ways. I now have a mechanic. I used to think that was something old folks had. And to make it worse, I have a mechanic that is 11 years younger than me. Something seems off about that- when did I get older than my mechanic, my stylist, etc.? At least I still have the crotchety good old boy that renovated the kitchen!

8. It's hotter than Lucifer's crotch out there; I'm rethinking my notion that global warming is a bunch of crap.

9. My normally sweet and sane child just threw an all out hissy fit screaming "I WANNA WATCH BARNEY"...complete with jumping and flailing. Wow- I don't think he's ever done that before. Chalking that one up to heat, ear, and lack of sleep last night.

How to enjoy the leftovers
1. Write out all the random thoughts swimming in your head that don't quite constitute a blog entry of their own.
2. Copy and paste the Leftovers photo onto your post (copy photo, upload to your post).
3. Link back to The Simple Life.
4. Enter your blog name and the permalink to your post into the comments section.
5. Visit all the other leftovers and leave your love over the weekend.

Organized Travel for Mamas

We love to travel- it's an addiction around here. If a month or two has passed without an adventure on the calendar, I get antsy; insatiable wanderlust is here to stay. While preparing for an upcoming vacation, I knew I needed a couple of things to get us organized in that why-can't-I-find-that-in-the-bottom-of-my-bag type of way. Now let's hope these arrive before we depart on our next adventure!

1. C's Dopp Kit
With the little man so independent these days, I wanted a way to keep all of his toiletries together so he can go straight to his bag when needed, and voila, all he needs in the bathroom is in one place. It also needs to travel well and keep spills from leaking onto other items in his suitcase. We had to retire his last kit as it received so much use that it recently went to shreds. Finally, I wanted something I could use for swim lessons, when not in use as a dopp kit. And after recently reading that vinyl lining contains high levels of lead, it had to be lined in something else and able to be thrown in the wash. I had a hard time finding exactly what I was looking for until I went to Etsy. Check out this find (9''x11") by monkeyfootdesigns:


2. The Ouch Pouch
What a great concept! I usually throw some band-aids, Neo to go, and other small first aid items in a plastic sandwich bag, but the bag ends up beat up in our backpack we use on day trips, around amusement parks, etc. and the contents spill. These come in various sizes, starting at 4"x5" and various patterns, including "kid patterns" and "mom patterns." Kudos to PillowSewCute for this organized, adorable, low-cost solution:

3. Epi-Pen Pouch
I had no idea these pouches even existed, and frankly, there is no easy way to carry two big syringes around. Do you leave them in the box (which ends up battered and contains all of your Rx info), or take them out and know you are going to be scrounging around in a backpack or purse during an emergency if they are ever needed? Thanks to a beesting allergy, I get to carry two of these syringes with me and now I've got a practical and stylish way to do so. The pattern I ordered no longer shows online since it was sold (to me), but you get the idea from another one below, also by PillowSewCute:

Totally in Love- July

A new"ish" series for this blog, hopefully on a monthly basis.

Desert Essence's Vanilla Chai Body Wash...all organic and chemical free, and it smells heavenly!

Fresh Rainier Cherries

Talking with my grandparents for about an hour every Saturday morning

The gift of friendship

Excitement embodied in a 5 year old

Loyal rescued dogs

Fluffy white bedding

Dr. Bronner's Organic Almond Soap, with a buh-zillion uses

Soap nuts- chemical free in the laundry

All natural, chemical free deodorant stone

Compassion

I love how younger kids think- unfiltered, uninfluenced, and straightforward. Without going into the details, suffice it to say that M and I have struggled, and continue to struggle, with infertility. We like to say our little miracle, above, was five years in the making. And while we'd love to welcome another little miracle, it just hasn't happened yet. For well over a year, C has been intently focused on... "when will Mama have a baby? When will I be a big brother? Mama, can you have four more babies?" And so on...

On a drive home this evening, C asked if he could have a baby sister, and when would one come out of Mama's belly? We gave our standard response, along the lines of we'd love to welcome another baby too, we don't always know God's plans and timing, and we understand C's disappointment with not having a sibling yet. His response floored me:

"Mama, aren't there babies out there who have mommies and daddies who can't take care of them? Can we take care of them? That's a good way to get a brother or sister too."

How I love my boy!

One Fish, Two Fish

I awoke mistakenly thinking we were headed to the beach early this morning...but we overslept (RARE with C) and couldn't find his water shoes (still needed to protect the injured toe). The little man evidently had other plans anyway, and scoffed at the beach idea. He did, however, think it was a perfect day to go fishing. Not wanting to be bothered with crowds locally, we took friends up on an offer to use their pier to see what we could catch. Turns out it would have been a poor beach day anyway; jellyfish were everywhere. Some highlights of our big catch below...

Getting the equipment ready

Caught a Croaker

Giant Blue Crab

Chicken on a string was all we needed to bring in 15-20 Blue Crabs

Relaxing

Little Fisherman



Small Croaker

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Some recent ones...

We were riding in the car when I heard...
C: "Mom, peel back the roof!"
I had to stop and think a minute about that one. Turns out C was asking me to open the sunroof.

For those parents who have children that do not sleep through the night, I can relate, and I completely empathize with you. C is 5 and still does not sleep through; usually between 1-2am he wakes up and comes looking for us. Last night was no different, and as he stumbled into the bathroom at 2:40am to take care of business he asked me:
"Does seaweed have iodine in it?"

Seriously, who ponders that, and in the middle of the night no less? I had to respond that I didn't know and I'd find out for him...in the morning. Turns out that indeed, seaweed does have iodine in it! Who knew?

Post-Surgery Update on Mark

First, thank you for all of your prayers, well wishes, and offers of help. We are blessed to have such a caring network of friends surrounding us. It's 4:30 Thursday afternoon and I sit here in the recovery area with Mark, listening to all of the monitors ping...ping...ping...

Today's surgery was considered a success; what an answered prayer that is on a long journey to date. They were unable to use the HALO method as planned (burning off the bad cells), as you need a relatively smooth area to apply to. In his case, and with the amount of damage in place, it made more sense to freeze off the cells (cryo). We knew from pre-op that they would not make a decision until they actually saw the current state of Mark's esophagus. The good news is that they believe they got the majority of the Barrett's column.

Right now, Mark is VERY groggy and sore as he recovers from the procedure and the anesthesia. Specifically, he has a very sore throat from the procedure. He's ready to go home and sleep this off. He's also looking forward to having some food since it's been almost 24 hours.

So, we should be discharged soon and should be on the road. Our big watch item right now is for chest pain and any signs of perforation. We get to repeat this process in about 2 months; thank you again for your thoughts and prayers.