Needed WD-40 to Press that "POST" Button...

The photo on the left is my 8 year old daughter, Madison, about 6 months ago. The photo on the right is Actress Dakota Fanning in one of the promotional photographs for her 2006 movie, Charlotte's Web. Is it just me, or is their resemblance uncanny?

Now there's a scary thought...

The Seven Year Itch

Within the next month, Seth and I will celebrate 7 years of marriage. Now, I've heard mention of this thing called, "The Seven Year Itch", but never would I have thought, in a million years, that it would happen to me.

But now, with lucky number 7 looming in the not too distant future, I've finally figured out the meaning:

Upon the approach of the seven year mark, one will go through an insatiable need...

To purge.

Over the past day and a half, I have literally gone through every item of clothing in my wardrobe, and have filled garbage bags FULL of items that I have stored since the day we got married! And I'm so ashamed to say that some of these items I still wore!

I can't even explain the immense desire I have right now to get those items out of my house!

Seven years is way too long to be toting around some red and white striped pajama pants with santa fur at the bottoms, can I get an AMEN??

Or how about those nursing nightgowns I've had in my drawer since before Madison was born? As if I think I'll use them with any consecutive child, when they weren't even considered the first time around?

And about those jeans that are 4 sizes too small? I mean, who are we kidding? They didn't fit seven years ago, they're probably not going to fit in the next seven years.

In case you're wondering, Seth and I are excited to be celebrating 7 years together. And that stigma that hangs over said anniversary? I think I'll throw it out with those belts from 2002.

All Better!

I spent a good hour and a half last night trying to get this really cute video of Mathias singing "Twinkle, Twinkle" uploaded to either my blog, or to youtube, but after that amount of time and many failed attempts, I gave up, and shut down the computer!!

But I now realize that I should've at least let you all know that Mat's home from the hospital!!

They discharged us yesterday morning around 11, but gave Mat a prescription for Amoxicillin and strict instructions not to return to "daycare" for the rest of the week.

As I said on Tuesday, the oral steroid they gave Mathias worked wonders. He eventually did come "down" off of it, but he slept really well that night...probably better than his poor Mama, who had to sleep on the plastic-y couch in the room. He hardly coughed at all during the night, and I could barely hear his breathing! (Big difference from the night before!)

Seth stayed home from work again today with Mathias, and they spent the day doing laundry and playing together with Malachi. Then Becca came home from work with me around 10 am to babysit while Seth, Malachi and I went to Madison's school to watch her end of Kindergarten Program.

Seth brought Mathias into my office about 10 minutes before 5 so that he could go to the farm. Mathias colored and talked (non-stop) until it was time to leave. Then, when we got home, Mathias and I took a nice little walk and had some supper.

There!

Now that you've been properly updated, I'm going to sign off and enjoy another couple of minutes alone with my son before I take him up to bed.

Thank you ALL for your prayers and concern for Mathias during his illness. We love you all!

Updatius Maximus

Hello!

Seth, Mat and I just returned from a walk around the Women and Children's unit here at the hospital, and I can safely say that Mathias walked us!

The nurse came in about half an hour ago and gave him an oral steroid to reduce the possible swelling on his vocal chords. She warned us that it might make him hyper, but we weren't expecting this!

He said "hello" to everyone he met in the hallway, making instant friends! One nurse remarked, "You're going to get yourself kicked out of here, acting like that!"

We were able to speak to Mat's doctor around lunch time. He came in and looked at Mathias' films, and decided that we should keep him over night once more, take a couple more x-rays tomorrow morning, and go from there.

He's been off Oxygen most of the day, and we've been continuing to monitor his levels. They've stayed up around 100 all day, so hopefully they stay that way through the night.

Thank you all for your prayers! I have no doubt that this is the end of it, and we'll be able to be back to normal in no time!

God is so good!

Please Pray

As time allows, I promise to update you on our Holiday weekend, and to get back to our regularly-scheduled mediocre content. But right now I want to ask you for your prayers:

This morning, Mathias was admitted to the hospital with Pneumonia. He was up much of the night crying and wheezing, so finally around 12am (after waiting for a call for 2 hours from the On Call doctor that never came) we decided that Seth should take him into the ER.

His O2 saturation levels are at around 80% on their own. Right now he's receiving oxygen through his nose, and they plan to keep him here until his O2 levels stay at 100% on their own for 24 hours.

Please pray that this happens sooner rather than later, and that our busy 20 month old can get on with his little life. I imagine he's not going to be very content to just sit in a crib (jail cell) for the next day or two.

Thanks for your prayers, and we'll keep you updated.

For now, here's a photo of the little guy:

Kinda brings back memories from about 20 months ago:

It is SO important...

To make sure you have the four basic food groups:

"Wha' Happened?"

My 20 month old Mathias is adding to his vocabulary daily. Besides his constant immitation of everyone around him, he's come up with little phrases unprompted as well.

His newest is the title of this blog:

"Wha' Happened?" He says this all the time, at both appropriate and inappropriate times. It makes me laugh every. time.

One afternoon a couple of weeks ago, Mathias was eating his snack at the kitchen table, and I was folding the laundry from the dryer just 10 feet away.

He casually asked me, "Huh Daddy?" (Where's Daddy?)

I replied, "Daddy's at work."

He pondered my response for a few seconds, then asked,

"Daddy S'eepin'?"

Sweets, Shreds and Giveaways

This morning was day 6 of THE SHRED for me. Now, for those of you keeping track, yes, today should be day 8, but I was lazy and didn't want to leave the warmth of my hubby in my bed on Saturday and Sunday mornings. So day 6 it is.

Let's be honest, it is getting a little bit easier to get out of bed in the mornings.

(Yes, I did just put the word "easier" into a sentence containing the phrase "getting out of bed".)

Of course, at first it was a real struggle to turn off the alarm for the last time at 5:30. I just had to tell myself, "I could decide to stay in bed for another half-hour, hitting that annoying alarm every 9 minutes, only to still be tired and frustrated at 6, or I could get my *bottom* out of bed, do the shred for 25 minutes, and feel really good about what I've already accomplished by 6 a.m."

And, despite my arms reminding me daily of my decision to switch from wimpy little soup cans to those 2 pound weights with iron pumping ability, I feel like maybe I'm ready for level 2...but just to be sure, I'll wait until day 11, and spend 10 days on each level.

Have any of you tried any new workouts lately? How are you doing?

Today at lunch, Becca and I made a quick run to DQ. When you work in a town with 2 fast food options, it doesn't take long to tire of the same old, lame old. But today, Becca and I decided to try DQ's new Fudge and Nut Waffle Bowl.

It was devine.

Well, except for the waffle bowl. I'm not really a fan of the Waffle Bowl.

It's a hot fudge sundae. With nuts. And melted peanut butter!

Let me tell you. It is worth every calorie.

I can tell you one thing. The Fudge and Nut Waffle Bowl I consumed today at lunch will not be my last. I think I may need to Shred 7 days a week in order to withstand all of the melted peanut butter I'm about to consume.

Finally, lest I forget, Sophie over at BooMama is doing a giveaway of a great new (so new it's not even released yet) Worship CD by Travis Cottrell. So head on over and sign up!

Stiff and Sore sure feels good.

I've been trying a few new things lately, and since I've now decided I kinda like them, I'm going to share them with you:

1. I've started a new skin care regime. Remember my complaints about my pepperoni pizza skin here? Well it was about that time that I decided to try Big Mama's suggestion of Olive Oil and Castor Oil.

I know putting oil on your face sounds counter-productive, but something about this mixture of a cleansing oil like Castor oil, and another pure oil like EVOO, has had an amazing effect on my skin! In fact, when I started this regimen, I took "before" pictures of my face...and although I won't be posting them on the INTERNET for all the world to see, I myself can already tell the difference!

Personally, I mix 1 Tablespoon of Castor Oil and 2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil at a time, and that lasts me about 2 weeks of applying the mixture every other night. If you decide to try this mixture, you may find that a different ratio works better for you. The morning after this cleanse, I merely rinse my face in the shower, using only water. If, when applying my makeup, I feel my skin is particularly dry, I simply add a light moisturizer before starting with the makeup.

On my "off" days, the days I don't use this oil mixture, I use my regular cleanser and moisturizer.

If you have any issues with your skin, I suggest giving this a try!


2. Another thing I've tried lately is Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred.

I've been saying for a while now that I need to do something to get active. I really don't have time to go to a gym. Seth leaves the house at 5am, and I'm not getting up before then to EXERCISE! (Or for any other reason, for that matter!) And when he gets home at night, I'd rather spend time with him and the kids than EXERCISE! (Do you see a pattern here?)

So anyway, when I read this post by Vicki Courtney, I decided, "What the hey? I'll try anything once".

Famous Last Words...

This morning was Day 3 of the Shred for me. And I can hardly hear anything above the screaming that is coming from my calf muscles right now.

Listen, I haven't worked out since high school! And the only reason I did then, is because it kinda came with the territory when you played organized sports.

After my first morning, (I get up at 5:30 in order to have a little personal space while I'm doing the workouts.) my legs and arms were like jello. I know this because after my shower, (since I don't smell very good post-workout) I was carrying Mathias down the stairs and Madison was walking right in front of me. I told her to hurry up so that I wouldn't run her over. Right at that very moment, my right leg involuntarily came out from under me and caught Madison in the behind!

I immediately apologized profusely, trying to explain to her that I wasn't trying to kick her, I just had no control over my body!

But for some reason, I don't think she really understood that one could actually lose control of their own bodily extremities, because she told me it was okay, but her face said it wasn't.

So now, in the name of exercise, I've started abusing my own children...I blame Jillian Michaels.

The Center of our Entertainment

Seth and I have been searching for a while now for that perfect piece of furniture to complete our living room, or, you know, a house for our television and all of it's components.

Up until this past weekend, our tv had it's place upon one of our end tables. This worried me to No. End.

I've heard horror stories of children pulling heavy things down on themselves, and I could only pray that that wouldn't happen with our tv in such a precarious position.

So Seth and I scoured furniture stores, garage sales, and various classifieds such as craigslist.com in search of the entertainment center to die for.

Which, if you've heard of craigslist, you're probably well aware that that may be something to worry about.

But we were not to be deterred.

And our efforts were not in vain. This past Saturday, we found an ad for a corner unit. (which is about the only thing that will work in our open living room.) The description sounded like what we were looking for, but since there were no pictures, we asked the owner to e-mail them to us.

We received the e-mail Sunday after church, and since it was exactly what we were looking for, we were sold! However, if we wanted this particular entertainment center, we were going to have to drive an hour and a half one-way to get it.

We decided to offer about 25% less than the asking price, stating our mileage situation. The owners took our offer if we could come RIGHT NOW! (I'm not exaggerating when I say this, but we got a steal!)

Anyway, I called my sister Becca to see if she'd be willing to watch the kids while we were gone, and since she was leading a drama practice, and had plans afterward, she recruited one of her drama kids to help us out.

I was a little uneasy about having a complete stranger in my house, with my children, but Jewels turned out to be a great babysitter! I'd totally recommend her. (And I knew that my dad was across the street, and Becca was in town in case anything happened.)

It's a good thing we left when we did, because the craigslist advertiser had moved the entertainment center out in front of their house, and a couple was out of their vehicle looking at it! I'd like to say that I don't think they would've sold it before we got there, but let's be honest, it's craigslist.

But I digress. I'm sure you want to see pictures, so here they are:

The Dash Don't Be Silent

Maybe you've seen this before.

I received the following e-mail this morning from a co-worker, and it made me laugh out loud!

How would you pronounce this child's name:

"Le-a"

Leah? NO
Lee-A?? NOPE
Lay-a?? NO
Lei??? Guess again.

This child attends a school in Detroit, MI. Her mother is irate because everyone is getting her name wrong.

It's pronounced "Ledasha", when the mother was asked about the pronunciation of the name, she said, "the dash don't be silent."

SO, if you see something come across your desk like this, please remember to pronounce the dash.

If they axe you why, tell them the dash don't be silent.

Once Upon A Time...

Tonight, Seth and I are leaving the kids with my family and driving far, far away.

Well, like 45 miles south of here. But it would be far if you were a turtle. Or a SWINE.

Unless you "Flu".

Ha ha, get it?

Okay I'm sorry. That was really bad.

So anyway, we're going to visit our friends Justin and Chelsea, play BINGO tonight, stay over at their house, and go garage sale-ing tomorrow!

The End.

30 Days Hath September...

And the number one reason why it's a good idea to know how many days are in a month:

So you don't send out "Out of office" replies to everyone who e-mails you that say:

I will be out of the office the afternoon of April 30th. I will respond to any messages on Friday morning, April 31th.

It might also be a good idea to know that the proper abbreviation for "first" is "1st".

Hope this made your April!

'Cause it did mine :D

Wisconsin Weekend

As you know, we attended a pancake feed in Wisconsin this past weekend.

We got up at the crack of 3am on Saturday morning, after staying up until 11:30 the night before making sure the house was spic and span. We knew that we'd be gone until sometime Sunday afternoon, and we didn't want to have to worry about cleaning the house for Bible Study once we got home. As it turns out, we didn't even have Bible Study due to illness.

We were out the door by 4, and Seth drove the entire way.

While I slept.

And he rubbed my feet.

He is all mine.

We got to Peaceful Pines (As Grandpa Henry had named it) around 9am, had our breakfast and took the kids on a little hike through the property

As you can see, Peaceful Pines is a more than appropriate title for this property:

Isn't this beautiful? Seth's sister Maretta was married on that bank (just a smidge left of the center of the photo.) Seth and I had been dating about 2 months at the time. It really was a beautiful wedding: her bridesmaids walked down the hill barefoot and in black dresses, their hair spiraling down their backs. Maretta walked down the "aisle" to Enya's Only Time.

Anyway, although the ground was very wet, the kids had fun "skipping rocks" like daddy, and exploring the woods.

This is one of the little cabins of Peaceful Pines:

Here's a view of the inside:

And a view of the little creek behind the cabin:
Why am I the only one smiling in this picture?
Here is the bus that Grandpa slept in during the summers when he would be working the fields and processing his syrup:

Here is Uncle James' new Sugar Shanty. Uncle James took over the syrup making hobby when Grandpa Henry died.Seth's twin sister Sandy and her husband Davy also made the trip to WI, bringing with them their newly restored Mini Cooper. Upon Seth and My "test drive" of Sandy's new baby, we checked out Seth's family's former homestead:

This is (was) the barn. Seth said it was really cool because there was a silo in that part that juts out. And you can't really see in the picture, but there were high beams that the seven of them would run across.

They were a very cautious and boring family.

And here's the farmhouse:

When Seth's family moved to MN in 1988, the house stood vacant for a couple of years, then suffered a beating from various renters before being sold just a couple of years ago. So needless to say, the house has seen better days.

Unfortunately.

Now, for a couple of my favorite pictures:

Tune in tomorrow, same time, same channel, for some of the same randomness...

Our weekend in Wisconsin was interesting to say the least. Despite the fun time we had at the pancake feed, and the fact that it didn't rain, although the forecast predicted PLENTY of it, Madison and I both had some stomach upset.

Madison with carsickness, and I with the flu.

That's why I'm making this post brief, and promising to re-cap the weekend tomorrow, perhaps.

For the ride home from our hotel on Sunday morning, we stopped at a corner Walgreens (is there any other kind?) for some motion sickness tablets, a receptacle for bodily fluids, and miscellaneous other things, as you'll see below.

Because it's always good to be prepared. Like a boy scout, or whatever.

You know, for those times when you not only want to contain your stomach contents,

But you may also want to measure them.

Also, one can never have too many obnoxious screen tees:

I'll give you one guess as to who bought these. And you're not going to need it.

What is this thing called McDonald's Sweet Tea?

Yesterday afternoon/evening was uncharacteristically warm, with temperatures near 90 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT!

So I took my hot, hungry kids to Mickie D's for supper.

I ordered something new for a change: The Sweet Tea.

You need to take your hind end over to your friendly neighborhood McDonald's and order yourself a Sweet Tea.

It's only a dollar, and it's served in a Big Gulp (just ask for little to no ice...I think that's where they get you.)

Oh Sweet McTea, if loving you is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Just in case you wanted to know...

Malachi and Mathias share a bunk bed. Mathias sleeps on the bottom, for obvious reasons, and Malachi, the top. One of the reasons we feel safe having Mathias in his own big-boy bed, is that his is full size, so there's plenty of room to roll. Another reason, is that he has this huge, oversized duck that we strategically place between him and the edge of his bed. Think the movie Click, only without a horny dog.



Anyway, every morning, while Malachi still sleeps, I walk into Malachi and Mathias' room, and Mathias greets me with a "hi".



This morning was no different. However, when I went over his bed to lift him off of it, he smelled horrible! Since he had a dirty diaper yesterday morning, I figured this was the case. And since Malachi was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake him just yet, I took a diaper and the wipes into my room to change Mathias.



It wasn't until I brought Mathias into the light that I noticed that he was covered in (dry) puke!



What in the world?



And it was as if Mathias himself was totally unfazed by the whole situation.



I took him into the bathroom, where the mess could be better contained, and discovered that he also had a poopy diaper. And that his poopy diaper was pure liquid.



Okay, there was no way I was bringing him to Angie's. But what was completely bewildering to me, was that he showed no other symptoms of the flu...there was no fever, no chills, nothing. And other than another runny diaper, he hasn't had any symptoms since.



Bizarre.



Anyway, I'm pretty sure a couple of us will be missing our Incredible Years class tonight.



Bummer.



Hopefully this is the end of it (the vomit, not the class), because I've already missed a lot of work this week, and we're leaving early Saturday morning for Wisconsin.



When Seth's grandpa Henry was alive, he'd harvest and process his own maple syrup. Then he'd have all of his rellies over and have a big ole pancake breakfast for everyone. Since his death in 2005, there have been efforts to keep the tradition alive. The kids and I have never been able to go, so when we found out they were doing it again this year, there was much begging and whining.

Seth told me to pull myself together, but ultimately agreed to take us! We've even booked a hotel in the area for Saturday night. We're all really looking forward to it!



And, to top off our weekend in another state, we've offered to host our Bible Study group this Sunday night. So naturally I'm grateful to have been able to stay home today to get some things done before we leave. Aside from the never ending laundry, I've been able to get everything done today except the washing of the floors and some finishing touches on the bathroom.

I'll keep you posted.

It's all I can do not to watch Idol and DWTS without him...

Seth's working late tonight. Word has it that he'll be working until 10 or later, and with his hour-long drive home, it may be close to midnight when he finally gets in! And have I mentioned that he gets out of bed around 4 every morning?


Say a prayer for him, if you think of it.

Meanwhile, the kids are currently enjoying a little "Campout" in the living room, while they watch Finding Nemo, and I watch the robin on my front porch.


It's been a really nice evening; For once, when we finally got home, I wasn't super-crabby, and the kids weren't A: bouncing off of the walls, or B: super-crabby themselves. It was a recipe for a nice evening.


Madison asked if she could go to Grandma's, so Grandma and Grandpa invited her and Malachi to join them for supper at Pizza Ranch! Since I am a domestic goddess and a gourmet cook, and I already had a pizza in the oven, Mat and I stayed behind to do some laundry and some mommy-son bonding.


I was actually able to give him some one-on-one playtime! It was the first time since starting our Incredible years class that we've had the opportunity to have playtime, just the two of us.

Surprisingly, I've actually been enjoying our class. Well, if you don't think about those awful videos. Videos which feature little families where the dad wears glasses you would otherwise find on Nicole Richie, and excessive facial hair. (The dad, not Ms. Richie.) A dad who wears super short-shorts and tube socks up to his knees and says cheesy things to his children like, "You're pretty handy with those fingers, Sunshine."

Anyway, Mat and I had a great time together; It was divine. There was much laughter and singing and intellectual conversation.

Or just laughter and singing.

I don't know why I said that, other than that it sounded good in my head.

Speaking of my head, lately I've seemed to have broken out into some pepperoni pizza-like acne. Well, more now than usual. It seems, that since I was blessed with a good complexion throughout Jr. High and High School, that this is some sort of remuneration. Right now it is so bad that I'm seriously considering going to my MD tomorrow to find out what's going on. I blame hormones, although you would think that there would be some sort of pattern from month to month if that were the case.

OOH! I totally forgot to tell you; This past Friday, Mathias went potty on the potty chair! It's not like I can throw away the diapers any time soon, but I am so proud! He's only 19 months old!

As is the ritual after Seth and the kids come home from the farm on Fridays, we plopped the kids directly into the bathtub. Mathias had been in there no longer than 5 minutes, when he grabbed his little behind and said, "poopy". I dried him off as best I could and set him on his little potty. I covered him with a towel, so he wouldn't get too cold, and went back to shampooing Malachi's hair. Seth came into the bathroom a couple of minutes later and discovered pee pee in the potty!

We lavished on the praise, as we should do throughout these incredible years. (See? I'm such a good pupil...)

Well, my little robin friend has long since flown away, Nemo has been found, and although Seth is still working, I'm going to have to save some of this randomness for him.

Have a good night!

You Likey?

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Faux Pas

As is often the case in the steel industry, or at least in my office, certain material is acquired almost later than it is needed by the customer. That is to say, "the customer needed this material yesterday!"

When this is the case, it is part of my job to be a bug in the ear of the salesperson we bought the steel from, trying to get our material ready to ship and released NOW, as it is HOTT!

All the while using all of my God-given grace and poise so as not to offend our suppliers.

The following story is no exception:

We bought a coil in Alabama and needed it to ship to Texas. Yesterday. Because I am always bugging these same suppliers for all of the different sales divisions that I work with, I thought I'd change it up a little. You know, make it not quite seem as annoying the 33rd time today that our steel is hot.

Here's what I meant to say:

Hi Liz,

Could you tell me when the two coils on this PO will be ready to ship? We are UBBER hot for this material.

Thanks Liz,
Rachel

There. I threw in a hip word meaning "Super-duper". That ought to take the annoyance level down a notch.

However, since Spell Check is my arch-nemesis, what was actually sent to Liz, was a request for our steel, which was "RUBBER" hot!

As if I were trying to peel out of the plant with 45 thousand pounds of steel!

Of course, this whole fiasco could've been avoided if I'd actually known how to spell "ubber" in the first place. Because, in fact, the proper spelling is "uber", bearing little resemblance to the word "rubber".

Furthermore, when I typed in "ubber" on urbandictionary.com, (far too late to avoid this faux pas, I might add,) I was given this definition:


ubber

It is the product of poor spelling and ignorance, the actual word is uber.

So I did what any good Purchasing Assistant with a trace of her God-given grace and poise remaining: I put my poor spelling, ignorant tail between my legs, and sent this e-mail:

Dear Liz,

I'm sorry, we are not "rubber" hot for anything.

I meant to say Ubber...but my computer had a meltdown, and wouldn't allow it.

Have a nice day!