Healthy Me

In two weeks, we start college visits for our oldest child. We have appointments for one college that is within driving distance (but way too expensive) and one she would have to live in the dorms in order to attend but it's much more affordable than the private, local college. Scary times, thinking about my daughter leaving home in what could be forever. In any event, things are going to change.

Gosh, I really can't believe my firstborn little girl is growing up.

This bug I've been dealing with for a week should be well and gone by the first college visit...just in time for me to get all teary and stuffy head weeping over the fact my kid is looking at colleges.

How's the real estate market? We want to put our house up for sale but we worry that the market isn't great and we won't get enough for it. I have alerts set up to get notices for houses in our area (and our home state because I'm always up for moving back home) but the one house we REALLY wanted, sold. Not sure when we will put it up for sale now.  I  keep hearing of an economic crash coming so I'm not sure if we should get out now or stay put and not take on more of a house payment.

I have a friend and a family member that got out of the business several years ago when the market crashed. I briefly considered getting into the market myself but didn't. I'm not a saleswoman. I saw an app online called goconnect real estate app for your phone for agents to use. I guess there's an app for everything! I like getting access to tools agents have because I want to know every little detail about a house I'm interested in (so I get log ins for regular real estate, notices sent for foreclosures, etc.) and I came across this app. Might be useful for a realtor.

I am in the process of making hair accessories out of flowers for my girls.  My kids always ask me to buy then when we go to the hair salon, but I don't like spending $3-$5 per piece when I can make them so much cheaper.  I bought the flowers in bulk and am going to go to town on them this week.  I might even sell them too (for less than the hair salons and Wal-Mart charge for them).

My girls like to add hair extensions into their hair for fun so that is next on my list of things to hunt down.

Back to school time is a busy time getting everything ready (and talk about the money hemorrhaging - supplies, clothes, sports fees, sports clothes, pictures, etc.), but it gets quiet here during the day.  Making hair accessories will be a fun thing to do on the side.

A few days ago, I was grocery shopping and came across this little old man grocery shopping.  He looked lost.  He explained that his wife had died awhile ago and that she had done all the shopping. He didn't know what he needed or where anything was. I felt so bad for him. I helped him find what he needed but felt guilty that I couldn't do anything else for him. I didn't know what else to do!

I wonder - does this man have any children who weren't helping their dad? Isn't there a neighbor or friend for him?  What a sad thing to have happen - live your entire life and then have nobody to help you towards the end of it.  It was incredibly sad.

For me, I do not get along with my dad.  Years of dysfunction will do that. My childhood - I remember the dysfunction (fighting, tears, anger), the money problems, the tool that looked like c clamps bolted to his workbench in the garage (why would I remember that?).  I don't have any good childhood memories.

I don't want to end up like this poor older man in the grocery store when I am older. I hope we are raising our kids better than that. I hope that we have been good parents to them that they are around when we are older.

We just bought cabinets for my family room!  It's the first step to actually turning it into a family room and not a catch all for everything, including dust which is bad for my allergies (looks more like a basement than a family room).  I want to expand our storage with that room, as well as set up a living space for the kids to play their video games and watch television.  I am looking for rustic decor in that room, while the rest of the house is more contemporary comfortable.

I can't wait to add "family room" onto my husband's "honey do" list!  I'm sure he'll be happy.  *snicker*

I am turning 40 in October.  I can't believe that.  When I was a kid, 40 seemed so OLD.  It's not SOOOO old to me now but still, it's the point where people can start saying I am "over the hill" right? Somebody told me last week that they thought I was only 34.  That was cool.  I didn't mind that at all.

A friend of mine wants to celebrate my 40th birthday like it's 1999 (she said) but I'd have to take a cash advance out pay for it. With school starting, we're financially depleted and the outlook over the next few months doesn't look any better - homecoming, sports, band trip.  I plan to cry on my 40th anyway so why spend a lot of money to sob at a party when I can do it at home for free, right?

Do you know what I did recently all by myself?  I actually fixed the toilet.  Me - who has never been handy around the house!  I was so proud of myself.  The flapper chain was broke and the handle broke off (guess kids thought pushing harder on the handle would make the toilet flush but it doesn't work that way when the chain isn't there).  My husband would wait months for his dad to come and fix it and with all these kids in the house, I was not willing to wait months and reduce us to one bathroom with eight people in the house.

I looked it up on YouTube, went to the store for a new flapper and handle and did it all myself!  I was quite proud of myself.

I wonder if I can lay floor in the family room and install a blu ray home theatre system all by myself?  I think I better aim smaller to start and replace the tub spout (kids broke that too).

Seeing a theme here with kids and things breaking?

My teenage daughter has been trying on my dresses from my single days (early 20's)...and she can fit into them.  I can't believe the slinky little black evening dresses dream of mine - to one day fit into them again - is at an end. If my 13-year-old daughter can fit into them, I don't have a prayer of being able to do so ever again after four kids.  I have to be honest - hips that bore four children will never be that small ever again.  I just have to get real and face it!  What is sad is that one of them still had tags on them! 

My husband has worked 3rd shift for almost five years now and in all that time, his body has not adjusted to the change.  He sleeps very badly and it makes him SO cranky! 

I'm looking for a natural sleep aid for him - natural, non-addicting. Perhaps a regular supplement that will help regulate the sleep cycle so he can get a good eight hours of mostly uninterrupted sleep.

Animal?  Plant?  Chemical? 

Hoodia is a plant (genus of 13 species specifically).  Did you know that?  I've seen advertisements for hoodia diet pills but didn't know what hoodia was. 

The Internet is amazing in what kinds of information it can provide at the touch of your fingers like looking up Hoodia.  My kids use it (the internet, not hoodia) for school research regularly.  I use it for social networking, work, entertainment, music, family photos/videos, etc. 

...and to think when I was a kid, we played outside, read, and trolled the neighborhood giggling over boys.  Such simpler times:)

I've had to cancel my last two doctor appointments so I don't have any thyroid health updates.  I'm not losing any weight...in fact, it's inching up higher a little bit at a time.  I don't go now until November to see my doctor.

I worry about the move we are contemplating to another state.  It took me forever to find a decent doctor.  I'm afraid it'll be very difficult to find a good doctor after we move. 

There's just so many things on the top of my "to do" list about moving - finding a good thyroid doctor, good pediatricians, a car insurance quote because I know our insurance will probably double, schools, etc.   I will definitely shop around for the best rate.  A good thyroid doctor is just one on a list of many things for me to do.

The job interviews hubby had on Friday were a no-go.  He said the places were dives and not the environment he wants to work in...and I was already furniture shopping in my mind for modern furniture. Actually, what was running through my mind was everything I'd have to do to get four kids, five dogs, two horses and a snake moved by myself because hubby would go ahead of us to start the job while I got us packed and ready to move.

So, we're still job-hunting and wanting to relocate back to our home state.  It's just going to take longer.

With the economy still bad after so many years, what is left to invest in that will see a good return?  I know our 401K took a huge hit when the economy first tumbled and it's wheezing itself slowing back out of the negatives.  I've heard that gold is a good investment. How do you invest in gold? Gold bars? Just buy stock in a gold company?

I am a ninny when it comes to investing. As you can tell, I know nothing about it.

Well, I am still hoping to get my hypothyroid symptoms gone (soon, soon, soon I hope).  The doctor switched me from a compounded Armour to regular Armour a month ago and I'm having problems.  I'm not sure if it's related to the new Armour or if it is related to the C. Diff. I got after I was hospitalized in May.  I've not felt well since May 15th! 

The house painting is coming along.  It's time to move onto the downstairs bathroom to brighten it up with paint and new bathroom fixtures.  Right now, my youngest won't even use that bathroom because she doesn't like it.  When I got up at 2:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom last night and saw a HUGE spider sitting there staring at me from the floor with it's long legs all creepily situated, I wasn't liking it that much either.  I guess I'll never outgrow my fear of spiders and seeing it in a creepy bathroom while half asleep sure does wake you right up!

My son's birthday weekend was great.  I felt good until Sunday evening so it all went fine.  Today, I'm not feeling too hot.  I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever kick this bacteria.

Instead of going furniture shopping today, I went online window shopping since I don't feel good enough to walk around the furniture stores right now.  I am looking for a round coffee table.  I've had rectangular before but wanted to look at round coffee tables for a change. 

I found this Winsome Genoa Round Coffee Table with a Glass Top and a shelf underneath that looks like a good possibility.  The glass will prevent water stains when the kids leave their glasses on the table when I'm not around to march them back to the kitchen table.  Then again, there is a Winsome Timer Coffee Table that has both a shelf and a drawer in a rectangle shape.  I might go with a rectangular shape again but I really wanted to try something totally different.

Oh well, back to window shopping.

My son turns 11 today.  We are going to have a birthday dinner at the restaurant of his choice, movie of his choice and a party at home with a cake and ice cream (of course).  He's definitely maturing past the stage of Pokemon and stuff now because I thought he'd ask for something like a ps3 for his birthday but he asked for a Cajon instead. It's a box drum (look it up on YouTube...it's pretty cool).  Maybe he's saving the PS3 for his Christmas list.  He's probably going to hit us up for the big stuff when it comes from Santa.

We're planning a vacation this summer to visit family again.  I hope my transmission holds out for the trip because it would stink to be 300 miles away from home and have the car die.  I can't believe how expensive it is to have a transmission replaced on a vehicle.  It's not like I'm looking for Ferrari parts but still...$2000-$3000 to replace my transmission. I've never had to do it before and I'm hoping this one will hold out, rumbling and all, for a long time to come.  The mechanic said to drive it til it dies so that's what I'm doing. 

Like car problems and stress helps my health.  Geez.  It's neverending.

While I was sick and my husband was off work taking care of me, he did some much-needed painting.  Here is a picture of part of our living room he just finished (ignore the pull-ups on the top of my armoire...you can tell kids live here):

Summer is unofficially here.  With the mid-80's to almost 90 temperatures are any indication, we skipped spring and went right into summer.  Sad for me because I love wearing boots and was hoping to extend my wear of them a little longer but it's just too warm. I'm not sure how my husband does it having to wear heavy, steel-toed boots to work the way he does in this heat without an air-conditioned work environment. 

I'm glad he does his own laundry for his work clothes.  I'd imagine those socks of his smell!

I don't do well in heat though so you won't catch me outside sunbathing in this sun!  I'd pass out.