B6 Toxicity Journey Begins

I had never heard of B6 toxicity. I grew up with a Mom who viewed the RDA for vitamins a suggested minimum and who still takes supplements of everything. Well last Tuesday we found out my husband has toxic levels of B6. Not because his doctor wanted to check but because my husband asked him to check another vitamin level so the doctor ordered a who vitamin panel apparently. I called last week on Thursday and left a message with records asking them to send a copy of the blood tests and they did not call me back. So I hope they've just mailed them, but either way I have to call them today and try to get some more information. My husband was only occasionally taking COQ10 which has some B6 in it, it's hard to think that was causing the toxicity. Do you have any idea what B6 can do to a person??? Numbness, tingling, pain, headaches and on and on. Pretty much screws up the nervous system. And although it is "water soluble" once you get more than your body can handle, it takes years to undo the damage. And we still have no idea WHY! The neurologist basically told us to analyze the food he eats. REALLY???? Well I have been spending time researching some "whys" but mostly figuring out a meal plan that won't completely deprive him of every other nutrient out there while still maintaining a low B6 intake; yep that means checking every single thing or ingredient, keeping a log, and lots of math. So that has been a little overwhelming.

Friday I got my fertility cleanse stuff in the mail so I have had to get serious about an endometriosis diet, so this cleanse isn't completely worthless. I did a bunch of grocery shopping before my husband's diagnosis which means I have frozen pork which neither of us can eat now. I am supposed to only eat chicken, fish, and turkey, and he can have small amounts of chicken and hamburger and sausage and bacon and never pork roast or pork chops. At least I do have lots of chicken. So last night I made turkey burgers for me and Boy and hubby got a beef burger. Hubby and boy had green beans and salad while I had green beans and a sweet potato. Although I probably should have had salad too, I just didn't want it. 

Yesterday I pulled my neck while yawning. Yep. I had just finished reviewing the music I was playing for church when while setting my music book on the table I yawned and the left side of my neck cramped up. I could hardly move. Hubby rubbed it for a few minutes but I hurt so bad that didn't help much so I got in bed and put heat on and ended up staying in bed all day. Which meant hubby and Boy went to church without me and hubby got to teach the 7th Commandment to a group of very fidgety high-energy 8-10 year olds all by himself in Sunday School. No, our child was not on his best behavior either. Apparently when there was a lull in the prelude music, he whispered very loudly, "Hey Pastor, you're up." Oh ya, almost as mortifying as the time... well there have been too many of those times to keep track of, so why bother recounting any one of them. Suffice it to say, parenting is never what you thought it would be! 

How To Get Your Preschooler to Stay in Bed Longer, Please Don't Judge Me, and Other Thoughts...

One improvement in our lives around here is that Boy now "doesn't" get up till 7am. Seeing my post from a year ago about 5am and earlier, I am appalled that we didn't institute this rule earlier. But we did have psycho neighbors below us at that point and so I had to get up and let him get out of his room and keep him quiet watching TV to avoid getting the police called on us, or worse, the actual neighbors themselves pounding on our door at 5am (insert shudder and mitigation of panic attack here). So anyhow, I heard some friends with 3 year olds talking about a special clock they bought that has a red light and a green light and the light will turn green when they are allowed to get up and I thought "huh!". Boy has known his numbers for several years, why didn't I think of this before??? So I went to Walmart and bought a $5 digital alarm clock and put a sticker over the minutes and said, "See? when the clock says 7 you may get up." Now of course their are various reasons to get Mom up before 7--can't find one of his bots or cars or whatever he was trying to play with while waiting for the clock to turn 7. But mostly, the rule is followed. SO a few days ago, I got up a 6 and had coffee and watched I Love Lucy ALL BY MYSELF!!!! It was awesome. I do have my alarm set for 6 am on my days off, but I only get up then about half of the time. My theory is that as they say that people should keep their bedtimes fairly regular that since I get up on my work days at 4:45 and 5:30 there is not a good reason to get up past 6 on the other days unless I want to severely shock my poor sleep deprived body at 4:45 again the next week. 

Also, ever since leading up to my surgery my back pain has been getting worse. And by that I mean that I often cannot get out of bed in the style of a normal person in the morning. My surgeon said my endo was so bad that it may have been causing my back pain, but alas when I quit taking pain meds my back pain was right there waiting for me. So I started some yoga based on a friend's recommendation, then also ended up starting physical therapy. I've only had one PT session so far but the exercises are good. However I have been fairly regular and yet my back still seized up last night. So I think I gotta do yoga and PT. And as of 2 days ago my intestines have been trying to murder me. Dunno why, thought maybe it was the fast food (Sonic burger) I had Thursday night but it's Saturday and I'm still cramping up off and on.  Getting old sucks, especially when you're not old. So ya I gotta eat right and get in shape and not look back. Especially if I want to have another baby. 

So anyway, it's fall and school has started for most of the known world and I have been asked far too many times if my 5 year old is starting kindergarten this year. And man I get a lot of mixed responses when I say I'm homeschooling, even from church people. Now, I really do feel like homeschooling is the best option for him, especially since it seems his learning style is a very strong mix of kinesthetic and some visual. He is also very active and I'm pretty sure he would get kicked out of kindergarten or labeled as ADHD or something due to his inability (at this point) to sit and focus on books without someone sitting next to him keeping him going. He is not a follower and could care less if the rest if the class is sitting if that's not what he wants to do. Thank goodness his Sunday School teacher homeschooled her own little boy who was just like him and is not at all bothered by having to make him sit still! But you see, it's not ADD or ADHD, it's just lack of interest in certain things--he can play for hours with cars or trains or bots, but drawing letters is a little boring. So he needs something to help make it more interesting to connect with him as well as learn a little discipline about doing what we don't really want to do, and who better to teach him that than his own Mom and Dad who are personally vested in giving him the best tools possible for a good start in life? I know there are many awesome teachers out there and I have known many of them who I would be happy to have teach my child, however they have a class full of children to educate and cannot do "one-on-one" constantly with one child and still teach the rest of the class. So here goes...taking it a year at a time and praying for God's grace and guidance each and every day.  Seriously, how else do people think we homeschoolers do it? Some blissful ignorance of how easy it will be? Some notion that the kids will absorb the material? Well for the record, it is hard work and dedication to doing the best that we possibly can as parents for each child, along with the recognition that the method will look slightly different for each child. I should get off my soapbox now before I go overboard. Happy Saturday to all you Mamas out there! 

Cars, Surgery, Pancakes, and Other Fun Things

Ohhhh boy. So it's been over a year since I have been able to think much about my blog beyond a few mental compositions. I am sitting on the sofa talking to Lighting McQueen about the fact that Boy needs to watch more racing cars (his Cars movies). You see, apparently boys make requests to their mothers by having their cars make the requests. Some days I talk more to my son's cars/trains than I do to my son! Well probably not really, but it feels like that.

So anyway, my husband finally dragged me down to Best Buy and made me buy a new laptop. And then the Intel rep that was there found the exact computer that I wanted in a special sale display case of computers that were returned within the 14 day return period--fully tested and work perfectly but cheaper! Which made me very happy considering how much I loathe spending money on electronics.

So much has happened in the past year. We have moved to a new town, close to an awesome church and all our new friends that came along with the awesome new church. I am still working where I was before, which means I have to get up at 4:45 in the morning two days per week -- but I really like that office and have found a third day at another office that I love. So now I only work Tuesday - Thursday, no more crazy temp/fill-in schedule. we have been doing said crazy schedule for the last year and are soooooo relived that it is over!!! Anyway I am sitting here drinking my coffee and reveling in the fact that if the temp agency calls me to work today that I can say "NOOOOOOO"!
And then a month ago, very sadly, hubby's Grandmother passed away. She was 89 (almost 90) and had just found out she had stage 4 ovarian cancer, and she went to heaven just 2 weeks later. So now she is in perfect health with Jesus, which we are praising Him for, but we also still miss her so much. She was such a big part of our lives, it feels very strange.
The week after that, we flew to Reno for my brother's 30th birthday; his wife had planned a surprise party for him and managed to keep him completely in the dark through almost a year of planning! So that was a super bright spot after the very dark spot and it was awesome to have a weekend away seeing family, and Boy playing with his cousins. Even my brother who we haven't gotten to see since Boy was a baby came! He lives in the Midwest, so had to leave the 5 kids and wifey behind (can you imagine the airfare for that many people??!!) but we were all so excited that he got to come anyway!

Next up on the docket---middle next month I get to have surgery. "Get to?!" you say? Yes! As it turns out, after years of avoiding the fertility specialist, I finally went and he said I have severe endometriosis which is preventing pregnancy--if we can get most of it removed, I should be able to get pregnant fairly easily after that! So it will be an outpatient laproscopy, after which I will get to spend four days recovering -- lounging on the couch being a princess while hubby gets to do all the housework/laundry/kiddo care. See? It's definitely a "get to" situation :)

I guess that's it for today. I think I may attempt some coconut flour pancakes if I can talk myself into going to the store for eggs. However I'm still annoyed that I forgot eggs when I was at the store last night. So maybe we'll just have bacon for breakfast.

The Distracted Mom Writer

Mom collected these leaves for me and I think they're so pretty with crystal and candles!

They say a true writer must always write; there is a type of compulsion this person has that prevents them from not writing. However, I disagree. There is another type of writer, the Distracted Mom Writer. This person is every bit as frazzled, has just as many compulsions to write, but this person is stuck in an alternate universe. This is a universe of being pulled in too many different directions; or maybe it is just one in which the poor lady is too much of a disorganized workaholic to actually sit down at the computer and put those thoughts on paper. This person constantly has thoughts of what to write about and what she would like to say swirling around in her head, but never actually makes it to her blog page to put those thoughts down. There is always something else she "needs" to do. Now, I know that many, many, many of the bloggers out there are Moms. They manage to raise 5 kids, homeschool them, write a book, can their own green beans and make their own yogurt and run a home sewing business on the side. Sometimes I have felt intimidated by them because I barely get one child homeschooled (although he is only 3 so not too much pressure yet), the house cleaned, and the sewing done that I need to do. I have thought multiple times about doing some sort of fun sewing business and selling on Etsy or Ebay or such, but I know I would probably experience a mental breakdown before I got very far. Why? I am the Distracted Mom (Writer, Seamstress, Housekeeper, Errand Runner, Cook, etc...). Emphasis on the "Distracted" part. I always find something else I need to do, often before finishing the 3 or 4 projects I already have started. But I just remind myself that there is nothing wrong with me, I am just different. I get my family fed, keep them in clean clothes, and keep the house clean (well, I keep it mostly dirt-free, "clean" is a relative point when you have children.).

Case in point: I have not finished the Christmas stocking I started for Boy before he was born, and I have not started the train quilt I said I would make him; I also have several small home decor/useful projects I want to do. However, today I am going to make a doll dress; my niece's birthday party is tomorrow (she's turning 2) and we can't go, but I still want to get it made today and put in the mail on Monday. Of course I came up with the idea of making it late yesterday. And that also reminds me I am going to try to make some Christmas presents this year and if I don't get started soon I won't get them done at all, which reminds me that Hubby said a couple of his new suit jacket sleeves are too long and I need to shorten them--he is awesome at scoring very expensive dress clothes at very low prices at thrift stores, but the downside is that I do a lot of tailoring. So there you have it, I think I have effectively wandered from the point of this post, which was going to be something along the lines of a comparison and contrast of different types of writers, maybe I will try that again another day :)

Life in September - Some days are crazy - This doesn't describe the half of it...

So I'm sitting on the bathroom floor saying "Are you done yet?" to a 3-year-old who would rather sit on the potty for an hour than go to nap...You know, potty training is much harder than I imagined. I mean, I figured that once he realized he didn't have to constantly have that stuff against his bottom all the time, and got the hang of going on his little potty that all would be fine. Now don't get me wrong--he wears big-boy underwear when we are home, and I haven't cleaned any accidents up in at least a week--awesome! And he has started telling me sometimes when he needs to pee. He usually only does his #2 business in his diaper at bedtime/naptime, so at least I'm not cleaning that up anywhere, but I'm not sure it is good for his little tummy to be waiting like that... 
On the upside, while he doesn't care as much as I would like him to about potty training, he really loves learning! He knows his shapes and colors and numbers and we are working on the alphabet. Every day he surprises me with something I didn't realize he had picked up on! So ya I'm trying to start preschool with the craziness around here. Hubby starting a new job--Yay!!!! I am trying to cram in my CE (gotta finish today) so I can renew my hygiene license today and I have several suit pants of hubby's that need to be tailored as well as some random paperwork we gotta get in for the new job.
And it is beginning to be cold outside--there is condensation on the living room window and Boy just said "Is messy? Clean wawer off?" and I got to explain condensation to him so I guess we have already got started on science this morning :)  I am so happy for fall to start this year, and I am already looking forward to Christmas. I really gotta get my random stuff done so I can get Boy's Christmas stocking finished this year.
And apparently I jinxed myself--just cleaned up an accident...oh well. Here's to Monday! (Raise coffee cup, gulp it fast, and go refill it!)

Teddy-bear Travels

Boy was about 7 mos old here, Teddy was his new friend and One True Love!

Ehhhh it's been a busy week, but a pretty good one. Some drama, and plenty of craziness.

Monday, was fun with a little shopping and playing at the play area in the mall, until I realized Teddy was missing. Then it was a frantic 30 minutes of checking the car, retracing our steps, and checking and rechecking the furniture store we had been in. We finally found Teddy under a dining table that we had sat down at for a few minutes. The stress of almost losing Teddy (and knowing the stress that would ensue if we didn't find Teddy!) was too much and while Boy didn't even realize Teddy had been missing, Mama bawled and thus ended the mall excursion. Next was a quick grocery store stop and then I was very happy just to go home.

I only worked one day, which was a welcome break after the four days the previous week... Then I began packing, and have already used up the various boxes I have saved from diapers, wipes, etc and now need to send hubby to Lowes for some more. They seem to be the least expensive that we have found and are of decent quality for the price. I have lots of packing left to do, but I still have 19 days left so I think I will be fine.

Friday, Boy decided that he would like to sit on the big boy toilet--hubby noticed him in the bathroom pulling his pants down! Now I should add that this last week we have found him diaperless more than once, and he even relieved himself (#1) in the livingroom once. Ugh. So for the last two days I have been periodically taking him to the bathroom, although we haven't had success yet. I need to hurry up and get at least a potty seat, but I think we are going to go for the little Thomas toilet that makes train noises when the toddler has a successful session :) Anyway, yes of course I was wanting to begin potty training when I'm in the middle of getting ready to move. NOT!!! But apparently I have no choice in the matter; although if I did, my plan was to begin as soon as we moved. Ya know, a decent sized bathroom to put the toddler toilet in and a toddler bed (as opposed to the crib) would make the process easier, I thought...

Saturday, I was washing the stroller (hey, it's been in use almost three years--it was due!!!) and Boy decided it was a perfect time to dunk Teddy's legs in the tub too. Partially wet Teddy. Then a short time later I was in the bedroom packing and I heard the toilet lid--apparently Teddy needs to be potty trained too!!?? Very wet Teddy. Next I gave teddy a bath in the sink, and Small Boy insisted on helping. Very wet Teddy and very wet Boy. So the rest of the day Boy wore nothing but a diaper (because I didn't see a point in putting a third outfit on him) and Teddy had to sit over the fan to dry. I also decided that it was a good time for Boy to be allowed to watch Max & Ruby so that I could get something done without chasing after him every 3.5 seconds.

Today I am staying home from church with Boy because he seems quite tired and woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I finally just now got him in bed for his nap after a 40-minute search for Teddy; he just would not be still without him. Teddy was finally discovered in the window sill behind the blinds. Oh yes, if Teddy ever actually goes missing, it would be a very bad thing...

Boy no longer sucks on Teddy's tag, he now rubs it between his fingers--thus we have many pictures of Teddy face-down :)

As a side note, Teddy will be waiting in the car from now on.

Happy Days

Ahhhh life. So last week seemed just crazy busy, and next week is gonna be way worse. But it was a good week anyway. Hubby and I both worked our tails off as usual--I work two days per week and he works the rest--and then of course was the usual grocery shopping, errand running, laundry doing, etc.  The biggest news though was that we got a new apartment! It is modest by some standards, but exactly what we wanted--washer&dryer in unit, dishwasher, two bedrooms, nice little balcony, and a park and grocery store BOTH within walking distance!  Next week I'm working four days as the other hygienist is going to Hawaii, and of course I have to start packing. Moving day is April 25th, and I have a long list of things to do; normally I really hate moving but this time I'm actually looking forward to it. Do you know I'm going to gain at least two extra hours every day just by having a dishwasher; can you imagine all the writing and cross-stitching and scrapbooking I'm going to get done?! Oh and I will be able to start practicing my violin again! And...well I better stop adding things into that time because I will be out of time before I even get the time :)
Anyhow, I better get off my duff now, because I have a large sink-full of dirty dishes...toodle-loo!

About Me :)

FYI: This post may sound a bit rambling, but that is my brain today. And I dare say, that is many Mamas' brains on many days. I need to fold the laundry, I love my babies so much, I wish the dog would quit shedding, and when we get to take an actual vacation I want to go to Italy, and Oh Look--there's a spot on the wall I should get up and scrub. Sound familiar?

So here are a few things about me, in no particular order.
1. When we take a real vacation I want to go to Italy. Yes I want to go someplace tropical, but I really want to go to Italy.
2. We have an older lovable dog who sheds/grows more hair with every passing year--why can't dogs' hair get thinner as they age like humans???
3. I want a lot of kids, and I mean pretty much as many as I can have till I get too old, then we will adopt. Do you remember reading "Jo's Boys"? She had this huge house filled with kids who hollered all day and needed lots of love; the thought of a home like that makes me feel so happy inside.
4. Related to the above comment, I am not one who naturally has patience; I guess God will help me learn that one over time :)
5. Don't think I am one of those ladies who always has a smile on my perfectly madeup face in the morning who is ready to attack the day with all of my never-ending energy. Nope, my hubby will tell you I am beginning to get more human after I have sat for a half hour with my large mug of coffee.
6. I am tired a lot; (I "blame" that on my two-year-old BOY with endless energy) but I accomplish a lot because I can never (rarely) sit still and do nothing--until I am too tired to move and then I just collapse, tears may or may not be present at that point. And then I wonder if I can ever be a good mother because I can't just keep going endlessly and my sweet hubby reminds me that if only I would take breaks a bit more often I wouldn't collapse.
7. I can't just sit; hence me sitting here typing on Sunday afternoon because I do believe it should be my day of rest and I have no energy to wash dishes.
8. I want a house with a white picket fence surrounding a green lawn edged with an old-fashioned cottage style garden. When we buy a house, my hubby knows that if it doesn't come with a white picket fence that he will be installing one on his first free weekend. :)
9. Really really wanting another baby today. Really trying to just put a little more faith in God's timing on that one.
10. There is a blue purse I saw at JCPenney yesterday that I really want cause it will go so nicely with the blue strappy heels I bought a couple months ago; meant to buy it on my way back out of the store, but made the mistake of shopping in heels, and my feet were in so much pain that I forgot.
11. "I forgot" is a phrase my hubby hears from me more often than he wants to; I gotta work on not saying that so often in front of Boy or he will likely start using it...  My memory went when I got pregnant with him and has gone downhill from there; but he doesn't get that excuse, in my opinion :)
12. I think you are probably bored by now. Or have a kid emptying the pop-up tissues box, or swishing in the toilet, or something of that nature.

Sleeplessness Somewhere South of Seattle

Ohhhh. So why is it that I can compose such good posts in my head while making breakfast but suddenly forget everything when I sit down after lunch (boy asleep) to write? Anyway, I should be finishing putting the groceries away, washing dishes and making dinner, but instead I'm sitting down with coffee and doughnut holes. Nevermind the fact that I have already had about 16 oz each of coffee and Mountain Dew today. Also nevermind the fact that I stood in Costco not two hours ago and debated over which frozen vegies to buy because I "wanted" to go on my diet. But the doughnut holes were purchased last night when I had a bad headache and had just cashed my paycheck, so they were a great idea at the time; and I never let good food go to waste, so it is incumbent upon me to eat the last two now.
Anyhow, we are all very exhausted around here. Small boy has decided that it is fun to climb out of his crib, much more fun than staying in it and going to sleep. So he has been falling asleep at 11pm out of sheer exhaustion, usually with me holding him, and getting up at 7am (or earlier) every day. He usually takes a nap, also only because I will sit and hold him. If he skips his nap, then he goes to bed easily and early, about 6pm, but then wakes up to party for a couple hours in the middle of the night. A few days ago that time was from 11pm till 2:30am. If I keep him up past 6pm with no nap then at that point he is very sleep deprived and we have a meltdown and then the middle-of-the-night party still happens and is much less of a party... So we pretty much make sure the nap happens come what may. A friend of mine told me her children both did the jack-in-the-box routine around age 2, and it lasted about a month and a half; so I'm guessing we have another 4 or 5 weeks of this fun. Yay. Anyone else with experience in this area?
Well, I gotta scoot, just remembered I gotta do some ironing, add buttonholes to shirts, and properly re-allocate the cash in my spending envelopes after all the shopping we did today, in addition to the above-listed items. And we are trying Kirkland Signature diapers this time around; HOPING they don't give him a rash (haven't tried them since long before he started becoming allergic to everything) because they are so much cheaper than Pampers. Fingers crossed!

Thankfulness--because it should be all year long, not just in November!

Okay, this is going to sound super lame. I just opened my blog page to begin this post and was startled to see the photo of my most recent post. Yep, I completely forgot that I had actually finished and posted that post. Sad, I know; and now you know how bad my memory is. My poor family...

Anyway, today I am composing a list of blessings for Mamas to count.
1. Be thankful you are getting no peace when you are in the bathroom -- at least you know exactly where that 2-year-old is instead of wondering why he's being so quiet SOMEWHERE ELSE.
2.  It's a good thing to do taxes--either you are getting a refund (always good!) or you are getting to discover what a good income God blessed you with last year (as you write that check to the IRS and wonder if you skip signing it if they will send it back and give you a little more time before you have to pay that bill!).
3. It's pouring down rain as you head out the door with the kids in tow so you can go to the Post Office to mail and important document that you don't want to get wet. -- At least it's not snowy/icy like it was last week! (Yep, I know, there is no good way to look at standing in line at the PO, especially with kids!)
4. Two-year-old getting out of bed a million times when he's supposed to be going to sleep--you are getting exercise when you would otherwise sit on your duff for an hour watching Downton Abby. (I know I'm grasping at strings there but that was my Sunday evening so what can I say...)
5. Well, why should it be five things? I'm gonna leave it at four, because multitasking anymore may just put me over the top.
I think that's going to be my mission for today, focus on a few things to be thankful for as I go about my day today, tomorrow pick a few different things, and soforth for this week.
What are you choosing to be thankful for today?

My Decorating Brilliance :)

In case you don't know, I really enjoy magazines. I think I currently am subscribing to 5 different ones, but I have honestly lost track. It works nicely this way, I always have something to read that doesn't involve a computer screen. Anyway, my latest epiphany--I am seriously ahead of the times, home-decor wise. I mean, I decided several months ago that I am doing yellow and green in my kitchen. And then I get the February issue of Better Homes and Gardens and realize that yellow and green are the new "in" colors! Which makes life very handy for me this spring. You see, I told Mom that my kitchen is changing to yellow and green and she asked if it was the same yellow/gold and olive that were in when she was my age. But of course not :) I have a few olive colored decorator glass pieces, but I am going more for a lighter green and lightish yellow (and touches of red and brown to ground it.). In fact, I bought my yellow KitchenAid mixer a year ago! I just have always loved green and yellow (And I should add, as my Oregon State graduated brother was worried about this, I am NOT going for the Oregon Duck colors; in fact the correlation had not entered my head until he brought it up!)  Anyhow, as I was saying, my timing for my color decision couldn't have been better--my Mom got me some cute colorful measuring cups and spoons, a yellow butter pot (goodbye slippery butter dish lid!) and some cute yellow and green ramekins (I should also add that she also got me 8. These of course go very nicely with the set of green KitchenAid cooking utensils my sweet hubby got me for Christmas. So being as I am still rebuilding my kitchen supplies (most of mine when AWOL when we moved across country two years ago) this is the perfect year to finish that process up! Besides, having lots of pretty colors to cook with makes the process so much more fun and cheerful, don't you think?

In other news, the ice around here is finally melting, thank you God!!! Our parking lot was so bad yesterday that it took hubby 15 minutes to even get into it last night after work. We decided to stay home from church today for that reason--the roads are okay, but if we can't get safely out of our parking lot... So we had family Bible reading from the safety of our living room today, and I'm sure we weren't the only ones! 

Winter Storm #2. Like, REALLY???

Aiyiyi... I'm trying not to look out the window. Well nevermind, I just did. 8" of snow in the past two days, in a city which rarely gets snow so doesn't believe in using salt (it's not "environmentally friendly"...) and can't be bothered to use the three plows they own. My hubby barely made it out of our icy parking lot and onto the main road (all side roads are nightmares) just now so he could go to work this afternoon. It was supposed to warm up today but instead we had freezing rain so who know what what will be coming next. I gotta admit, I'm already nervous about getting to work on Monday :(  Although I did just check weather.com which states that it is supposed to be above freezing by tomorrow early morning and a high of 46 degrees. So maybe it will all melt tomorrow. I never minded this kind of weather in the midwest, but here in the southern northwest it is just an absolute pain.

Anyhow, hubby and I had the wonderful pleasure of a date two days ago! Jerry Seinfeld was in town performing and hubby bought tickets months ago. Of course that was the day this whole snow/ice thing started, but we were not to be deterred. So we trekked carefully across town to drop Boy off with his uncle and aunt, then back across town where we had a very nice steak dinner (probably the nicest we have ever had in our 9+ years of marriage!) and then went across the street to the theater where we spent one of the most fun evenings of our married adventure together. Totally worth braving the elements for, and would do it again in a heartbeat!

Then back across the snow to get Boy. After we dropped the sleeping angel in bed, we got to go in search of the bad smell that met us when we walked in the front door. (This is nearing 11pm, mind you.) Sure enough, found the source; dog had gotten sick on the living room floor while we were gone. Why oh why did that dog have to get into the garbage the day before??? Cleaned up the carpet, got in bed and to sleep after 11pm. Then at 4am was awakened by dog being sick again, had to get up and clean the carpet again, went back to bed for about 1.5 hours then got up and went to work. Which was a slow day which thankfully ended early---it took me 15 minutes to clean off/dig out my car so I could get out of the parking lot and make my way home. I'm really wishing I had taken a pic with my phone so I could share it here; but I was just focused on getting out of that parking lot in one piece by then... Gotta admit, I'm not sure when was the last time that weather has stressed me out as badly as it has the last couple of days. So now, just trying to relax and enjoy the weekend. Oh wait, I have a sink full of dishes. Oh well, it was a nice thought anyway!