View from my front porch...

These were taken last night between 11:00 - 11:30. Today it looks like it's still going but not on our side of the ridge. The pictures aren't the greatest so I lightened them so you could see some detail. The last picture is pretty worthless, but I added it anyway...

I broke down today and bought my son a leash/harness.

There's nothing like chasing your son through The Good Earth, and not being able to catch him, (happened yesterday) and then chasing him around Subway (today). It happens all the time I let him walk. (Usually I force him into a cart.)

Makes ya feel like a good mom to constantly have your child run away from you.

***

Oh, said child is also turning into a demon. Yesterday (when leaving The Good Earth) I had to drag him kicking and screaming from the store. There were some concerned faces around me. They were probably wondering if I was going to break down and beat him there at the store or wait until we got home. (FTR, I didn't. I kept my cool.)

As I am stuffing him into his carseat he is kicking, screaming, clawing, scratching, etc. I have the marks to prove it. I am so proud of myself, even at this point I still didn't beat the kid. I may have thrown him some really dirty looks, but that is it...

My week in review...

Thursday: Aches and pains, sore throat

Friday: Really sore throat, some aches

Saturday: A visit to instacare where the Dr. sees a whole bunch of white sores on my throat. Step test comes back negative. He tells me I have a virus and that I'll have to wait it out. He offers me a gargle that has some numbing medicine in it. I turn it down.

Sunday: I start coughing up a storm, lose voice.

Monday: Coughing a ton, but I have things to do, still can't talk.

Tuesday: Same as Monday, but this time I have a bunch of meetings to go to.

Wednesday: I go back to the instacare and see a different Dr. this time. He says I have entrovirus (common virus) but I still have a ton of sores on my throat that have probably spread to my larynx and lungs. (Hence the no voice and horrid cough) He gives me duraflu and hycotuss to help manage the symptoms. I take the medicine and spend a pleasant evening on the couch.

Thursday: Wake up nauseated and dizzy. Spend an hour on the floor in the hallway with T crying at me to "Get up." Call DA and he comes home from work. I get half a piece of toast in me and some medicine and I go to bed. Just as I can feel the medicine taking effect, I feel the need to throw up. Rush to the bathroom, where I don't make it, and throw up on TOP of the toilet. Clean that up, go back to bed. Spend the rest of the afternoon in misery and then throw up again. Call the Dr., sounds like I'm allergic to the cough medicine. Joy.

Friday: my mom comes and spends the day taking care of T and I. I keep down food and rest.

Saturday: All I still have is a cough and am tired. I'm hoping for a better week next week!

Lost in the land of sickness...

Don't come visit.

What a nice thing to do!

DA's current job has been a pain in the ***! (He is a project manager for a commercial construction company) It's a building for a local college and it's been full of problems, fights, and other peoples messes that he has to clean up.

So, as a way to say thanks and sorry for the awful last year and a half his company is sending us on a 7 day Alaskan cruise.

Once I was over my panic attack about going on the ocean ( I don't swim and only like water if I can touch the bottom and see the bottom) I started to get really excited. Grandma is watching T, so we are going to be child free for a week!

Now I just have to decide what I'm going to wear...

Random Photos...

Sheesh! It is feast or famine around here.

My new sink... too bad the ugly, pink, stained in some areas counter top is still around. DA says maybe in a couple of years.... sigh.



T being T...

My favorite quote of the week...

"Give a person a fish, and you feed them for a day. Teach a person how to use the internet, and they won't bother you for weeks."

It came from MOF Taffi. I have no idea if she made it up or where it came from, but I love it!

Radio Station KBull 93 NOT supporting Military family...

I have a friend who has recently sent her husband back to Iraq after a two week visit with him. On the day she took him back to the airport KBull was asking military families to call in. She did, and this is the way she was treated by the bullies Johnson and Johnson (the morning team) at KBull 93.3, a radio station in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Read about it here at Emily's blog.

More home improvement...

We have had a sink in our garage for a few weeks and it's just been waiting for a faucet to be chosen. Lo and behold, my kitchen faucet started leaking yesterday so off to Lowe's we went. While looking at our choices we saw our current faucet. It was a whopping $38 dollars. Big wonder that it was leaking!

DA and I had taken separate cars so I ran one more errand while DA went home. I came home and found that he decided to replace the sink that night. Did I mention that it was around 8pm when I got home? As always, we need a few more items to complete the project. It's always like that for us, since we live 25 minutes from the closest Lowe's.

So.... currently I have no kitchen sink and no running water in there. I guess that means I can't cook dinner tonight. Darn.

Sigh..

I didn't take any Easter pictures of T this year. I didn't even buy him an outfit.

I'm a bad, bad, mom.

How T likes to watch TV...

This bouncy seat is so trashed. T is the third child to have it. I don't think it's going to make it for a fourth child to use.

I think he was switched at the hospital....

If he wasn't so much like his dad I would have to question it further, but sometimes I really think I came home with a puppy, not a baby. T does the following...

• Carries things around in his mouth
• Digs in the trash
• Whines at the door
• Eats crumbs off the floor

The latest thing that really make me think he's a puppy in a little boy's body?

He throws his head back and howls.

My puppy when he was 10 months old.

My son...

I've been letting T have more of a say on what he wears. Usually it involves me holding two shirts and asking which one he wants to wear.

Not so today.

T decided he was going to wear the following outfit. And no amount of persuasion on my part could convince him otherwise. I decided that a tantrum isn't worth the effort of making him change, so here he is, in all his fashionista glory.....


An old jammie top from last year, socks, dirty tennis shoes, no pants. Are we leaving the house today? ...No.

Wordless Wednesday

Out of they frying pan...

and into the fire. That's how I'm thinking of my new calling! Last Sunday I had a meeting with one of the counselors. I figured that since I had three callings (enrichment leader, primary teacher, humanitarian board member) that I was being released from one of my callings. My money was on the humanitarian calling. I had heard a few times that I was supposed to be released from that one a long time ago.

So imagine my shock when he said he wanted to release me from ALL my callings. I only got the enrichment leader calling a month ago so I was confused. Well, his next words cleared it all up.

"We want to call you to be the 1st counselor in the Primary Presidency." Huh? Me? You want me to be one of the in-charge people?

To make a long story short I accepted the calling. I had my first meeting yesterday and it quickly became apparent that my new middle name was going to be "I have a meeting I have to go to tonight..."

We are home

from our trip to Las Vegas. It was fun for the most part. T took his tantrums to a whole new level. For some reason we had forgotten that T doesn't do well with change. We had a battle everytime we got into the car, stroller, or a restaurant. We stayed with some friends who were wonderful! Their house was so welcoming and comfortable.

We had a great time at the Hoover Dam, but a not so great time on the strip. Our babysitter fell through so we had to take T with us. That coupled with a million people pretty much made the day suck. We should have found something else to do. We really only took pictures at the dam, so here are a few...

Our dam tour started by T screaming as we put him in the car, screaming when we tried the stroller, screaming when we decided to let him walk, but wouldn't let him run away. Screaming when we went back to the stroller.

DA and T.
Me and T.
And just because I thought it was cute. This was the day before we left on our trip.

This is so typical...

DA was out working in the yard a bit, and T was trying to clean up the snow and dirt for us. What is it with my kid and vacuums?

Apple Bars

We loved this one!

Apple Bars

1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup apples - peeled, cored and finely diced
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 8x8 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix melted butter with sugar and egg. Mix in flour, baking soda, and cinnamon, and then stir in apple and walnuts. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, or until a small knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Wordless Wednesday

New Recipe...

I get bored with food easily, so I try a lot of new recipes. I've decided that when I run into good ones that my family likes I'll post them here.

This week's I found on www.recipezaar.com.

Caesar Pork Chops

4 pork chops
1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/2 cup creamy caesar salad dressing
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese (I used the canned stuff)

1. Heat oven to 375. Spray glass baking dish with cooking spray.

2. In a pie pan or shallow dish, mix flour and italian seasoning. Pour dressing into another pie pan or shallow dish.

3. Coat both sides of chop with the flour mixture; sip into dressing coating both sides well. Place in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Discard any remaining flour and dressing.

4. Bake uncovered, 35 to 40 minutes or until pork is no longer pink in center.