I need a holiday....

January has been a super long month. I was sick for 28 out of 31 days. My kids and husband have all been sick and are now starting a 3rd round of sickness. Lyndon has strep throat....again, and the kids colds seem to be getting worse again. I've been wiping Spencer's nose on a regular basis for the last 3 days. You wouldn't believe how much cold medication and antibiotics we have gone through in the last month. It's been unreal.

What I need is a weekend where I don't have to take care of anyone but myself. I've been focusing so much energy onto taking care of everyone else that it's getting to be a little overwhelming. Okay, maybe alot.

A weekend or something along those lines would be awesome. Then I'd be refreshed and ready to take care of everyone else again. That's not going to be happening anytime in the the near future.

In the meantime, it seems that my stress levels continue to rise and my energy levels continue to fall. I know that this isn't a good combination but there's really nothing I can do about it.

I've been on the go since before Christmas. There just hasn't been a break.

Maybe people and circumstances will change for the better soon. At least I'd like to think it would. But, at this point, I'm not holding out much hope.

I was hoping that February might be a little better than January, but right now we're starting off on the wrong foot with every one being sick.

Everything's just a little much right now.

Anyway, that's my rant.

Talk to you all soon.

I need a new T-shirt that says....

"I went on a youth retreat with 60 teenagers and I survived!"

This past weekend as you have probably already guessed, I was away on a retreat with the youth group from my church.

It was awesome!

There are several reasons why.

1. On Friday night before we left the church, the entire youth group sang Happy Birthday to me, presented me with a large signed card, and had me blow out the candles on a beautifully decorated birthday cake. Many thanks to the special young ladies who put the effort into making that happen.

2. The weather was great for a weekend of outdoor activities.

3. The food was amazing! There was even cheesecake for dessert after supper on Saturday. That was even more awesome because the cook made it because it was my birthday.

4. I was made to feel soooo special and appreciated by the entire youth group. There were many "happy birthdays" said, many hugs given, and tonnes of words of appreciation. It really touched me! I love being a part of the lives of these young women. I love them sooo much.

5. This is by far the most important reason.

GOD WAS THERE

We went through a few studies together as small groups. The discussion in my group was always thought provoking and eye opening to everyone involved. We could have used more time for every single one of the three sessions. We spoke about self-image, authentic friendships, and purity. All of these issues being huge in the lives of teenage girls. I believe that there is much life change in the works for each and every one of these young ladies.

Now I get to look forward to hanging out with them again at YC 2008 in Edmonton!

Household Update

My posts have been lacking lately.

Here's why.

All 4 of us have been battling colds as of late. The day after we discovered Spencer's pinkeye, both kids woke up with nasty colds. Spencer's had a fever here and there the last few days. Kianna's also been a little bit feverish but not quite as much as her brother.

It's hard on the kids. Kianna coughed so hard this morning she threw up. Spencer's just been feeling yucky in general. I feel terrible for them but there's only so much I can do to comfort them.

I took both kids and myself to the doctor on Sunday and we just have viral colds. That just means we have to wait it out.

It's been a looooong 3 weeks of sickness around here.

Maybe February will be better.

Sick.....

So just as I thought we were starting to get things under control in regards to the sickness that has been flooding our household, we have officially started to face round 2 of this monster.

1. I'm still not better and have a nasty cough that keeps me up during the night.
2. Kianna's starting to get a cold.
3. Lyndon's still not feeling better.
4. Spencer now has pink-eye.

I'm just sooo tired of dealing with all of this. It's certainly frustrating. I've been losing sleep, becoming more cranky, and just flat out sick and tired of being sick and tired. It's been an extremely long January.

When will it end?

I'm still....

here.

Things have just been so out of wack lately as the 3 of us have been trying to get better from the strep throat episode and getting back into routine.

I think life will be a little more tolerable once routine is established again.

When all is said and done.....

Tammy and Drew have officially begun the journey called marriage.

Their wedding day was a good one. You couldn't have asked for better January weather for a winter wedding day. The sun was out, it was hovering around the 0 degree mark, and there wasn't much wind.


I don't believe that there was anything that went wrong in terms of the wedding day.

But....and there's always a BUT....

I got strep throat this week and only realized it on Friday just hours before the wedding rehearsal. My throat was sooooo sore. It hurt to drink water! I cringed every time I had to swallow and I had lost my voice. It wouldn't have been much of a problem execpt that I was supposed to read some passages at the ceremony the next day. I wasn't sure until just before the ceremony began if I would do it or not. I'm sure there were people praying that I'd feel better for this. I went from not even being able to drink water at the rehearsal dinner the night before and wanting to head into emergency for painkillers (which I didn't do) to having enough voice and almost no throat pain overnight. I was sooo glad I was able to do my part in Tammy's wedding. Both of us were really disappointed with the idea of me not being able to do that.

Then, to top everything off, as all of the girls...bridesmaids, Tammy, myself and Kianna, were getting dressed and prepared for the ceremony, Kianna's eye was bothering her and had some goop in it. I realized it was pink-eye! What rotten timing. An hour before the ceremony she has to get this. So, I called a friend who had eye-drops, sent Lyndon over there and had him bring the drops to us, and Kianna's been getting the drops ever since.

My poor girl had to deal with her hurting eye, being over-tired, and being in the wedding party all at the same time. It was rough but she did okay despite everything. The wedding pictures will show her with her one droopy eye though. Oh well, there's nothing you can do.

But, when all is said and done, Tammy and Drew are husband and wife now. That's what matters.

No Screaming and Writhing.....

Spencer had his second haircut in order to get all spiffed up for his auntie's wedding.

Here's the before, during and after shots of him.

The last time we had his hair cut I had to hold a screaming, writhing and crying little boy as the stylist did her best to cut his hair in the midst of it.

I was so impressed with him this time. He sat there like an angel the entire time.

My little boy is growing up so fast!

The Fire Department Visited Me Today......

I had a visit from 3 wonderful firefighters this morning.

He's the story behind that visit.

I had gone upstairs to change Spencer's diaper and smelled something funny (and no, it wasn't his diaper). At first I thought it could be natural gas but quickly ruled it out because what I was smelling didn't have the lovely aroma of rotten eggs. Then I ruled out carbon monoxide because that has no scent.

So, the next thing I did was call my dad. He wasn't able to come over at the time but he was going to get someone to come to my place and help find the problem.

In the meantime, there were several things going through my mind.

What if it's a gas leak?
What if there's something smoldering in the walls undetected?
What am I going to do with myself and the 3 kids in the meantime?

My heart was pounding so hard you probably could have heard it across the room.

I was really scared.

Then I called a friend to see if she maybe had any other ideas as to what it could be. She suggested to check all the appliances and then it hit me! I ran the dishwasher this morning. So I checked inside the dishwasher.

There it was!

A plastic mixing spoon had fallen off the top rack of the dishwasher and was stuck to the element.

The smell I was smelling.....burning plastic.

I called my dad back to say that I had most likely found the problem. That's when he told me he had called my uncle who's a firefighter. My uncle told him to call the fire department to come and check things out. So that's what my dad did.

I discovered the melted piece of plastic just before the fire truck showed up.

It was nice to have them come in and confirm that the spoon was the only problem.

So that was the excitement at our house today.

I was so relieved.