"The November Nor'easter" Update

The news shows have dubbed this storm "The November Nor'easter". As if there has never been another one in November. I'm not positive, but doubtful that is true.

We have been fortunate, and except for a few minutes here and there, have kept power throughout the whole ordeal.

Teresa, a friend of ours, has not been so lucky and she and her 2 year old daughter and dog moved in with us Thursday evening and are anticipating staying until Saturday night at 10pm when their power is supposedly going to be restored. Brandon and Lindsey lost their power today, for 23 hours, but it has already been restored.

Lillian's room had water standing above the ceiling and maintenance came over and made holes in the drywall and drained over 10 gallons of water out of it. The rain is still coming down so the holes are still dripping, and the water spots on the ceiling are getting larger still with every hour.

The carpet in the hallway in front of the guestroom is wet. And the guestroom window has so much water damage, the molding and drywall are separating, falling down and leaking rusty water all over my curtains (now down) and the carpet.

Maintenance says they will be over next week to "fix it" although we have yet to hear what that will entail. Hopefully more than a paint job this time. Until that project is complete, Lillian is (not) sleeping on her portable cot in our room. She normally sleeps 13 hours at night, last night she was at about 7, broken with fits of screaming.

We were able to get out today to go to the mall. We braved the rain and wind, and had a good time, although one section of the mall was closed and out of power, and the children's play area was closed due to a water leak.

Teresa and I also got out to the grocery store and picked up pizza for dinner, and ran by her house. We were hopeful the power would be on earlier than predicted, but it was not. We did, however, rescue most of her frozen stuff, including her Thanksgiving turkey, all by the light of our two blackberry phones. I knew those expensive phones were good for something, if nothing else, they have a bigger screen to guide you with when the power goes out.

The good news is that Teresa's renter's insurance will cover the cost of the groceries that spoiled. She was on the phone with them tonight and they are going to deposit almost $200 into her account.

Everyone else is down for the night and R and I are following shortly. Tomorrow Savannah has gymnastics and R and I are going to try to do a couple errands, hoping the businesses we need to visit have power and no water damage.

R's duty, the Veteran's day holiday, and this nor'easter combined gave us a 6 day weekend. Too bad we couldn't have known that ahead of time and gotten out of town. Although, we would have come back to a fallen ceiling in Lillian's room and a lake on the floor, not to mention ruined pink furniture and that would have been the end of my sanity (not that there's much left at this point anyways).

Nor'easter

We're having a "nor'easter". Apparently its a huge deal to people around here. It just seems like three days of rain and winds. But geesh, they're closing schools, roads, tunnels, and whole cities for goodness sakes. Setting up shelters in high schools and pre-empting all the tv shows. They closed the malls. So now, we can't watch TV, can't go outside and can't go to the mall. Lil is thrilled.

Not to mention, there's water dripping down from the cieling in her room.

In good news, in the excessive closing of everything in sight, Richard got a day off and was able to spend the day at home with us. It was especially nice because I spent last night with a friend at ER and feel like poo today.

Game night tonight I think.

Nov 2 Update

Still no news on holiday orders.

As far as regular orders: Right now R is still assigned to the Ike, the detailer has to be the one to cancel the orders and he has not. What the Ike sent over was a "recommendation" that the orders be canceled and for now, the detailer has chosen to ignore that recommendation. The Ike CAN make him do it, but as of now, they have not. SO, for now, it seems we are still on track for a Feb 12 deployment.

The car dealership wrote the color of the van as "white" rather than "silver" on the title, this makes a HUGE mess for us. So we're (and by we're, I mean I'm) trying to figure it all out.

We scheduled Lillian's 3 month follow up appt for her tubes on Friday.

We have set up an appt to get a DVR from our cable company, and at that time we will cease TiVo use. I hate new technology.

Apparently, R does not have duty Thanksgiving weekend now, although I have yet to believe it. If that is true, we will be heading to Durham to visit with the Howards/Fuscos for that long weekend.

We're going to make a trip to Ikea on Veteran's Day, next Wednesday, and top the day off with a girls birthday dinner for three of our friends.

ANOTHER washer guy came today. He seemed competent and seems to have fixed both problems. We'll see. East Coast Appliance has not been successful in anything so far, other than convincing us that buying the extended warrant is a MUST.

If you are getting R a Christmas gift, please just give him cash. He just purchased a laptop to use for deployment, and he wishes to use Christmas money to help go towards that.

I just found out that in Virginia when a teenager gets their driver's license for the first time, they have to go to the Courthouse and meet with a Judge. The Judge then gives the license to the parents, saying it is their opportunity to give the responsibility of a license to the child as they deserve it. That is AWESOME. Wherever we are, our kids are getting their licenses here.

Lillian climbed into the house bookshelf dad made today. Just to chill out on the shelf.

Christmas Lists are up on the blog and continually updated. Lillian's is here and Stacey's is here.

Whitney has her biggest show this year on Sunday, and I am helping her with it and R is helping with set up/tear down. Teresa is watching Lillian for us.

I think that's it for now.

COMPLETE change of plans

Richard got word today that the Ike rejected him because of his shoulder issues and has canceled his orders. As of right now, we have no orders for January. This does mean we could end up moving. We don't know. We don't know when we will know. Richard is supposed to go to medical tomorrow to pick up the faxed memo from the Ike and take it to his chain of command. We'll see.

The Ike is recommending Richard go to the Roosevelt because it is in the yards for the next three years. He could be getting "sea duty" time without going to sea. However, at last knowledge, there were no open orders for the Roosevelt.

Richard is also going to make an appointment with Dr. Bischoff, the neurologist here, to see if he would write a memo to the ship asking for an exception, because by February Richard will not need daily neurological care (the ship can't provide that while out to sea-that's why they canceled his orders).

Right now this does look very bad for Richard because he got a Senior Chief to recommend him for the job, which they're now saying he cannot fulfill.

Updates

-Lillian has moved from single words into phrases. Her favorites right now are "oh no" and "no mommy" "no no ___" with the __ being whatever we're asking her to do. Do we sense a theme here?
-Her favorite single word is "ready". It gets used for everything. Time to go to the store, time to eat, ready for bed, ready to get in the bath, ready to get out, etc.
-Her bangs are already in her eyes again and need a trim.
-Richard's holiday leave still hasn't been approved. Yes, this is retarded.
-Richard's work schedule is crazy right now and we won't see much of him for the next week.
-Next weekend, Lillian and I are going with friends to Hershey, PA for a trip to a pumpkin farm and the Hershey park. I'm excited, should be fun. Although its supposed to rain so pray for no rain.
-Lillian is now totally without the plug and has been for three weeks or so.
-She is sleeping in a regular twin size bed, up on the frame, with no bed rails.
-She loves the number two. She can't count, but if you say one, she will always say two.
-She is wearing size 6 shoes, 24 month/2T shirts and 18month pants.
-She seems to be thinning out again but I wouldn't know because we haven't gone to the doctor lately, imagine that.
-I have been up to the usual: cooking, cleaning, laundry, checkbook budgeting, calendaring events, yada, yada, yada.
-We still love the new van. We're taking it to PA this weekend.
-I'm contemplating decorating for the Christmas holidays on November 7th this year, so we have time to enjoy it, if we really do get the leave we want and leave before Christmas. Ironically, we probably won't know by then if our leave has been approved or not.
-R is still doing therapy twice a week for his shoulder. He needs to make another appt with the orthopedist to see how long this should continue. We have noticed improvement, more from time than therapy though, we think.
-I need new pants and am having a ridiculously hard time finding them. But in the meantime I found four shirts, a pair of shoes and a puffer vest. I spose I could wrap one of the shirts around my waist.
-We're having family photos taken tomorrow.
-Lillian's favorite toys right now are a mini-size Magna-Doodle that we keep in the car, one of our old cell phones, her stuffed puppy and the small rubber Little People animals.
-We're trying to work on colors and shapes with her and she's having none of it, so whatever !
-She knows most all animals by sight and can recite what they "say".
-We celebrated our third anniversary on Wednesday, low key, but had a great day. R was able to get special liberty to not go into work that day, so that was a gift in itself.
-We took her to the zoo on our anniversary and she was hilarious, making animal sounds all the way through.
-I have decided the theme for Lillian's second birthday party and its almost all planned. It will be on her birthday, Saturday, January 23, 2010. If you're from out of the area and think you can make it, let me know and I'll add you to the invite list. If not, you're missing out.
-We're now officially less than four months from when R leaves. BOO. I'm still taking reservations for visitors. Right now I have exactly NO ONE lined up to come. Come on people....

We're still alive. Just busy lately, and bored today. But bored in the sense that I don't want to do anything that needs to be done, not in that I don't have anything to do.

Working on Wish Lists for all three of us. Should have them completed soon.

Holiday leave was officially applied for yesterday. As well as transfer leave. Praying both go through, and are approved, exactly how he wrote them.

Deployment Boxes

For right now, he does not need any more gatorade or hot chocolate packets.  He also does not need stamps, he can mail for free.

Snackwells Cookies
Beef Jerky
Combos-original
Laffy Taffy
Flavored Tootsie Rolls
Chicken in a Biscuit Crackers
Cashews
Salted Peanuts
Home made Peanut Butter Cookies
Home made Sugar Cookies
Fruit Rollups
Airheads
Granola Bars
Pez
Lemonheads

We are back in debt again!

We bought a 2008 Chrysler Town & Country Touring today.

Its silver outside with two tone grey interior, with some wood grain stuff.

Its got every bell and whistle you could dream of, including three automatic doors, a keyless key fob, THREE DVD screens, stow & go seating, an electrical outlet, satelite radio, a rear view camera, etc.

Other than the fact that its a minivan, it ROCKS!

Richard's Orders

Richard received word today that he has been awarded orders to the USS Eisenhower. People call it the Ike and that's what I'll be calling it from now on, so don't be confused.

He is to report to the Ike on February 10, 2010. He was supposed to transfer in early January, and we're not sure why his report date is February 10th, other than the Lord heard my many prayers and performed a miracle. Really. This is very odd. But VERY good. They are scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan on January 4, 2010. We're assuming that shortly after he reports on Feb 10, they will fly him out to the ship. This will make his deployment 5 months instead of six.

This also means he will be home for Lillian's second birthday! And we will possibly be able to go home for the holidays, whereas it wouldn't be possible if he deployed Jan 4.

It will make his first month on the ship harder, as he will get grief from the other crew as well as having to catch up on learning stuff, but he's up for the challenge.

He should get some holiday leave, as in past years, either the two weeks before Dec 28 or the two weeks after. He is also entitled to up to 30 days of transfer leave. We're trying to find out if that is to be completed by Feb 10 or if that starts Feb 10. He might also not be granted both periods, he might have to choose. We don't know yet, he is trying to find out some more information.

We do not have written orders yet. PLEASE pray that the Feb date is not a mistake and that his written orders come through ASAP and have the Feb 10 date on them.

He is excited about these orders. And is excited that his reputation is good enough with a couple senior chiefs already on this ship that they pushed the orders so that he would get the job over any other applicants.

He will be on "sea duty" for three years beginning February 10, 2010. As far as we know right now, the Ike will deploy Jan 4, 2010 for six months, returning the beginning of July, 2010 and go directly into the yards. This means the boat will go into dry dock to be worked on. Richard will still report for work directly to the boat, in the yards, which will be in our area, but not directly at this base. It will either be in Portsmouth or Newport News.

The boat is also scheduled to go on deployment sometime in 2011, although we don't have dates yet.

Other than the cruise deployments, which typically last six months, he will have to be on the boat every time the boat pulls out of the dock. The ship has to stay "qual'ed" so they will be pulling out of the dock for several days each month when they are not on deployment.

The Ike has an "8 duty section". Duty on the Ike is different from his duty now. Now for duty, he has a 6 section rotation. When he's on duty now, he's basically "on call"-he can't leave his 'recall number' (our house) unless he calls in for an errand (church, grocery store, etc) and sometimes, he will be required to work a shift on a weekend he has duty or do a watch or flag duty when he is on duty. However, on the Ike, a "duty" lasts 24 hours and he is required to be on the ship the whole time. So once every 8 days, he will be spending 24 hours on the boat. of course, this 24 hour period for example, would start at 6am Tuesday and end at 6am Wednesday but then he would have to still work Wednesday so he would be gone from 6am Tuesday until 3pm Wednesday. We're not sure how they do the weekends. At his command now, they only schedule Fridays. If you have duty Friday, you have it all weekend long. This command might assign each day separately though, we don't know.

Moms-Here is a site that says its the official website of the "Ike Moms"

Others- Here is the official website of the Ike
And here is the wikipedia entry for the Ike and here is another navy site on the Ike

None of them are super informative with anything really helpful, but all that info is classified of course.

Richard will need several things for cruise that he will be adding to his Christmas wishlist in the coming weeks. And he will also be compiling a list of things that will be good to send him in goodie boxes while he is gone. Because he will be on a ship, space is very limited, so he would like to request certain things, and ask that not much more than that is sent. I will have him constantly keep a list updated so you know what he would like at that specific time. He can always use phone cards but needs specific kinds. He will find out exactly what kind and we will post that information also.

These orders mean:
1. We will be staying in Virginia until early 2013.
2. R says we will look for orders to Florida at that time. (I have three years to compile arguments against that and create stunning protest signs.)
3. We will not be buying a house in Virginia. (Our good friends are taking $15-18,000 to closing in two weeks to get rid of their house.)
4. Lillian and I will be staying in Virginia, in our current apartment, while Richard is gone. We might travel some. (Plane tickets or gas cards are welcome.)
5. As R's leave gets figured out we will know what our leave plans are before he goes.
6. We plan on keeping both vehicles we currently have until he gets back from deployment next July at which time we will replace my Pacifica with trade in and cash with something that is a 2008/2009. We will probably keep the truck until it costs more to fix it than its worth.
7. We will be having some sort of a birthday party for Lillian (hadn't planned on it if he was going to be gone) and you are all welcome to come.
8. Lillian and I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE company Feb 2010 to June/July 2010. I mean we would LOVE it. More than you know. And I would love some boogeyman scaring away powder I could spread around my house :-)

We're very happy about these orders and all the things they mean. Although this will be not only our first deployment while married, but also our first with a child, so it will be difficult but its going to happen sometime and we feel like we'll be adequately prepared. The next three years, Richard will be "gone" meaning sleeping on the ship, whether off the coast of Virginia, or elsewhere, for almost two years. Lots of prayer, letters (to Richard) and visitors (to me and Lil) will get us all through.

Yay!

Richard's Shoulder Update

UPDATE AUGUST 3: Richard saw the Orthopedist, Dr. Bischoff again this morning to discuss the results of the EMG.

The EMG report officially stated "suprascapular neuropathy with involvement of supraspinatus and infraspinatus."

Dr. Bischoff said today:
1. He doesn't think surgery is going to help. But he is referring to an orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion.
2. The nerve grows 1mm a day. At that rate it is going to take 6-10 months, more, to fully heal.
3. The bike accident fractured his shoulder. Yes, BROKE HIS SHOULDER. Yes, in February. Yes, they are just finding this out now. He said the fracture is now showing as healed, so there's nothing we need to do about it (other than know the Naval Hospital ER who turned him away was COMPLETELY WRONG TO DO SO).
4. He put in a prescription for more pain meds, Richard is on them almost 24/7 now.
5. He wants to see Richard every 4-6 weeks for the next ten months, to measure any improvement.
6. He wants Richard to go to Rehab 2-3 times a week until this is fully healed (6-10 more months). Rehab will last from 1-2 hours each session.
7. He said probably in January Richard would have to do a Limdu Board. That is a review board that will determine the status of Richard's injury at that time, and MAY keep him off the boat. We do not know if this means he would be on "sea duty" but not go out to sea, extend his shore duty until he is healed-and then transfer to his 3 year of sea duty, or he would start his sea duty on time, but his sea duty time would just be extended to add on the amount of time he is not eligible to go out to sea.

Next:
Tomorrow, Richard will pick up his prescription.
Wednesday, he will have his first Rehab appt.
Friday, He will have his next rehab appt.
Monday, He has an appt with his primary care physician, just to keep him updated. And he will have his third rehab appt. (Every M-W-F from now on).
August 25th, he will meet with Dr. Ellingson, the orthopedic surgeon.

New Words

More new words-these tubes are AMAZING!

kykee (Kylie)

up

side (outside)

pug (plug)

Richard's Shoulder

Note: Of course, we are not medical professionals, or spelling experts nor do we have perfect memories. What follows is the best of our recollection of what the doctors have said thus far.

Richard had an MRI of his right shoulder which showed a "Nonspecific atrophy of supraspinatus and infraspinatus" and a "globular intermediate high signal seen in the supraspinatus and infraspinatus near the tendon insertions." The orthopedic doc said this is bad because it basically means they (the MRI techs) see a "something" but don't know what it is. You don't want to stump them. The MRI "result code" was "Abnormal, Immediate Attn Needed". They did say it definintly is not a rotator cuff tear. This is good. There is much "degenerative atrophy" meaning his muscles are rotting. Not ever good.

The orthopedist, Dr. Bischoff, referred him for an EMG test to be done by a Neurologist to hopefully clarify what damage has been done, and where.

His EMG was today at Portsmouth Naval Hospital.

We had a great doc, a neurologist, who performed both parts of the test. The first part involved shocking various parts of R's hand, wrist, arm, shoulder and neck and recording the results. This part was uncomfortable and mildly painful. The second part of the test involved sticking needles into the muscles, starting at the hand and working all the way up to the shoulder, recording first with the muscle resting, and then with the muscle engaged. This part was mildly painful at the begining (the hand/wrist/arm) but became extremely painful when the doc neared the damaged areas of the shoulder and neck.

The doc gave us several answers:
1. The damage was absolutely, positively a result of the motorcycle accident Richard had in February (yes, really, FEBRUARY).
2. The subscapular nerve was damaged due to blunt force trauma (ie hitting the pavement) but the damage is "incomplete" which means it is not completely broken, just damaged.
2.5. The subscapular nerve feeds impulse signals to two muscles, one above it and one below it. The one below is severely damaged, the one above, not as much, but still significant damage. The upper muscle controls the lower 15% lifting power of the arm, the lower muscle controls the movement as if you have your arm in a sling position and then are pushing outward as if pushing a door open with your forearm.
3. The nerve damage happened immediately but was not evident until weeks later when the muscle stopped geting impulse signals from the nerve. (See straw analogy below.) This was the time during March when Richard had such severe pain that he was in two ERs and a doctors office, all within two days.
4. The muscle not getting whatever it gets from the nerve is the reason the muscle is atrophying (rotting). Richard has a severe concave hole in his shoulder, where that muscle used to be.
5. If it was a "complete" tear, surgery would absolutely be required.
6. Since it is "incomplete" damage, it may or may not require surgery. Sometimes these things heal on their own, although they take "a very long time-six months to a year" to do so. It has already been six months.
7. The neurologist said the next step is to make an appointment with the orthopedist, Dr. Bischoff, to review the EMG results and decide what the next step is. The neurologist's guess was that Dr. Bischoff would refer Richard to a surgeon.

It seems that we can wait another six months and it may heal on its own, still requiring physical therapy after that time. Or, we can opt to do surgery, which may or may not be able to help, and would also have an extensive recovery time and would require much physical therapy afterwards.

The straw analogy. The nerve is like a straw. When Richard hit the pavement it flattened the straw, but did not tear it. So there were some impulse signals still left in the first portion of the straw that was able to feed into the muscles. However, a few weeks later, all the impulse signals were either already in the muscle, or on the other side of the damage to the straw. That is when the huge pain happened and the muscles started to rot. Now, we are waiting for the straw to re-inflate, which may or may not happen on its own.

Bed training

Lillian jumped out of her crib twice tonight, landing with a HUGE thud on the floor and getting right up and running, laughing, down the hallway to the living room.

I think she has a death wish.

So far, we cannot tell that she has hurt herself, but we know its just a matter of time if she keeps up the diving act.

We have a "big girl" bed in her room for her, which we lay in with her each night to read books and try to get her to go to sleep there, but she refuses to lay down when anyone else is in the room. This is true for any bed.

She will not be held to go to sleep, she will not be rocked to sleep. She must be in her bed (her crib), by herself, and then, when she is ready, she will go to sleep.

We are desperately trying to figure out how to bed train her.

We have tried "the supernanny way" of putting her in the big bed, sitting outside the door, putting her back in the bed, when she gets out. She lasted 5 hours before we gave up.

My only thought is to move EVERYTHING out of her room, except for her "big girl" bed, and the crib and just put her in the big bed, shut the baby gate on the door, and leave her there til she falls asleep. But we really have no other place to put the rest of the furniture in her room so I don't know.

Lillian's Word List

Dada
Mama
Ba (ball)
nigh-nigh (night night)
puppy
hi
ooo ooow (yellow)
mo (more)
mo (NO!)

Ear surgery went well.

Richard's still working a retarded amount of days/hours.

His EMG test on his shoulder is the 28th.

Lillian peed on the potty for the first time today. She now regularly sits on it for about six hours a day, or at least it feels like it. She sits on it before and after any nap or bedtime, and before and after a bath and after a meal. Kylie is also doing really well. Which makes me want to move the tv into the bathroom since I spend so much time in there, but I think they're helping each other figure it out faster, which is great.

Lillian's new favorite thing is Ring Around the Rosy. Its super cute. She will take your hands and do it with you or just spin in circles by herself. (I taught her that because I get dizzy by repetition #2.) She falls down by herself about half the time and the rest she wants you to shove her down and then she laughs uncontrollably.

Mom and Dad wanted an update.

Here's your update-

The time is currently 10:53 on Saturday night July something 2009. I am exhausted and need a live in babysitter because my husband is currently employed 12-14/7 by the US Navy.

Lillian had pictures taken at The Picture People today. She was a brat. But the pictures turned out cute anyways. Those people are good. Expensive, but good. We are currently accepting gift cards for said photo place.

Lillian's ear surgery is on Monday. We have to be at the hospital at 6:40 am. That means we need to leave our house at 5am. As if surgery wasn't bad enough on its own. And I'm betting Ihop doesn't deliver to the waiting room. Darn! And french toast sounds SO GOOD right now.

Our very good friend Britt just left for "the place you would never want your husband to go" for an "undetermined amount of time" (not to be less than 45 days). He does super secret (ie VERY SCARY) stuff. Pray for his safety. And Whitney's sanity. And everything inbetween. He just got back less than three weeks ago from another trip. This was going to be the first year since they've been married that he was going to be home on her birthday. Oh wait, the Navy just changed that.

Richard's Shoulder

Richard had his follow up (from the MRI) appointment with the orthopedist yesterday morning. There is a "globular mass" that he is very concerned about, but there is NOT a tear in the rotator cuff. They have scheduled him for an EMG test, where they stick needles all over the muscle and test it with electrodes to monitor reaction to try to narrow down where the root of the problem is. That test is scheduled for July 28th. Yes, this is Navy medicine at is quickest, people. But we are probably still looking at surgery, they just have to do this test first to narrow down exact location. Then it will be followed up with months of physical therapy.

So, that's the story, until it changes again at least.

Re-Enlistment Ceremony

Richard's Re-enlistment ceremony was last Friday and one of his co-workers took some photos for us. (I was sure we had a family photo at the end, but apparently not.)

Lillian was perfectly happy using Richard's desk, but refused to be held and be part of the ceremony. They (the US Navy) also had a certificate for me. Promptly after these photos, Lillian puked all over me and her, both. It was spectacular.

Strawberry Fields

I want THIS quilt.

Etsy is so dangerous.

It's looking like we will probably be paying $1700 to $2000 out of pocket to take care of the bike. And it sounds like we're going to have to pay it all when the insurance check comes through. The bank says that since we no longer have the bike, we can no longer have a bike loan and therefore must pay the balance off in full.

Whee!

If I ever get married again (to the same man, of course) and I'm a millionaire, I'm going to do it up like these people did. (The last part of that sentence is a link to the fabulous wedding I speak of. Click on the words "these people" to go there.

Motorcycle

Richard's motorcycle was stolen sometime between 7pm last night and 11am this morning. The police came out to do a report and say it is probably already chopped up in pieces across the water.

Insurance has a mandatory waiting period (they won't tell us how long) to wait and see if it is recovered or they see us driving it before they will offer a settlement. They will not disclose the amount of the settlement until that time.

Late June Update

Lillian is having surgery to have tubes put in her ears on July 20th. She does not have to have her adenoids out though, at this time. She may later, but tubes may do it on their own so we're trying that first.

Richard has a MRI scheduled for midnight tomorrow night and an appointment with an orthopedist the following Monday. We're sure he's looking at surgery. His shoulder is so bad now that you can see the shoulder blade is in a different spot when looking at his back. It is typical now that he can't open a door with that arm, pick up Lillian and the other day he couldn't even pick up a can of soda.

I am doing good. But I have been having carpal tunnel problems again. I had it while pregnant and they said it would probably go away when I delivered. It did. For a year. Now its back with a vengeance, worse than it was when I was pregnant. However, its not to the point yet where I'm willing to tell any Dr. and risk getting another cortizone shot in my wrists.

I am in need of new tv shows to watch, I'm bored with everything I've been watching.

I made cake balls the other day, they were amazing!

Richard is re-enlisting on Friday. Lil and I are going. To collect the big bonus check. Oh wait... But we are going.

We switched from Blockbuster Online to Netflix. I'm very happy so far.

We're on house arrest for June, July and August by order of the US Navy. They say no leave so we're staying put for the whole summer. It seems soooo long. Especially when all of our friends are going to be gone for so much this summer. We're the only ones out of 6-8 families that are going to be here for the 4th of July weekend. Whee!

Richard's parents are stopping by the first week of July though. They will arrive Wednesday the first in the evening and leave Friday morning the 3rd. We're excited for that. But we're wishing they could stay longer. We're itching for visitors, especially since we're stuck here. The year seems so long with only getting to Michigan at Christmastime.

I think that's it. Not much exciting lately. Hence, no updates.

Ribbon Topiary

I got inspiration from the lovely Whitney for this Ribbon Topiary.

Disney by the numbers!

3 of us
3 friends
3 days of travel
9 days of vacation
7 days of rain
1 lunch at Cinderella's Castle
1 surprise private meeting with Minne and Donald
5 hour behind the scenes tour of Magic Kingdom
93 pictures taken by the Disney staff
800+ pictures taken by us
$124 for five day park hopper passes for six people
2 vehicles
1 car accident
2 hotels
2 times in the pool
4 ponchos purchased
2 stroller covers purchased
5 umbrellas
24+ inches of rain
4 puke incidents
2 dinners at Boma
2 Upper Respiratory Infections
1 ear infection
6 MRSA spots
2 strollers
25+ bus, ferry, monorail rides
2 rides co-piloting the monorail
3 free fast passes because we were on our honeymoon

It's raining and thunderstorming. Everything is closed up. It cut our night off at 5pm last night and our morning off at 11:30 today. Tonight looks bleak. Its supposed to rain the rest of the week. Please pray it stops or is at least light enough we can still be out.

And we're off...almost

I don't even remember when my last post was or what it was about. This week has been busy with repair men (imagine that!) and packing etc.

The car is currently in the shop to make sure the rickety, clunking sound that has been there but has gotten louder is not going to leave us stranded in South Carolina or Georgia.

The guy at the shop laughed at me when I said "We just need to know if it needs to be fixed now or not. But don't fix it. We can't fix it now, we just need to know."

I'm experimenting with how low my money can go before payday this pay period. Its making my head hurt on a daily basis. So far we've broken and blasted through all previous records. Not necessarily something you want to excel at.

I should mention after that last paragraph that we are currently taking donations for the "new car fund". We accept cash in the form of coins or bills, checks (as long as they don't bounce and have a valid signature, amount is not reqired, we'll fill that part in for you), credit cards, pay pal, cashier's checks, money orders, gift certificates, reward points, Chuck E. Cheese tokens and foreign currency. We currently have $372.84, so obviously a new car is right around the corner.

(We purchased our 2004 Chrysler Pacifica in October of 2007, planning on having it for four years. However, it seems to be a lemon, from which no one will buy our lemonade so we are saving up our pennies as fast as we can to bump up that schedule before we have to dump much more money into it. Our philosophy for vehicles (aside from the motorcycle, but that was a small abberation in Richard's brain functioning which has since been resolved) is that we trade what we have and add to it whatever cash we have but the total of what we purchase cannot exceed that amount. We aim for no monthly payments. My income is never guaranteed (if we move, it may/may not happen and may take X or XXX months to happen and may bring $ or $$$ in income) so we live (almost) solely off of R's income and that doesn't allow for a car payment. Since my income varies month to month and so does our spending, we just put away as much as we can each month and then when we have enough, buy a car. That way, we don't have to have $XXX for a payment every month. Because some months we have X and some months we have XXX and some months we have -0-.)

Between us and the Woods', we're taking three strollers, two cars, four adults, two toddlers, four sets of keys, 48 cans of pop, 60 changes of clothes, two laptop computers, two iphones (unfortunately neither are ours), six cameras, three coolers, 17 swimsuits, two pack n plays, 7 stuffed animals, umpteen minnie themed things, and 20-30 diaper bags, duffle bags, tote bags, cooler bags, paper bags, etc. That's a lot of stuff.

Ricard is filling out paperwork to re-up for FOUR more years on June 27th. He had the option of two all the way up to six. We felt four was a good in-between-ey-weenie number.

We bought a Baby Bjorn baby carrier this week. I've hated it every other time I've ever used it, but this time when we borrowed it from a friend for Disney, we both loved it, so we now own one.

We leave for Disney in just over 24 hours. Need I say more?

Well yes, I guess I should, in case its not obvious...No new posts for a week and a half.

I won the Mother of the Year award. Check out the news coverage.

Today...

Today...
-I'm not going to say a whole lot, partially because the day is not half over yet and partly because I'm so freakin annoyed :-)

-Today, the Transmission light came on in the Pacifica, minutes before the car died in the middle of the road and the oil light came on.

-Today the New Car Manager at the dealership (the only one working today) arranged to have the Pacifica towed to the dealership, have a shuttle come pick me and both girls up at 10:30 tomorrow, and send me home with a rental (free of charge, of course) that is equal to or bigger than my Pacifica until they fix whatever they broke on my car while they were fixing what they broke on my car. DORKS! Apparently they drank their lunch too.

-We are leaving for Disney in less than two weeks in this vehicle. Please pray that it gets fixed AND IS TRULY FIXED or that they give us a rental for the entire trip (which is what I'm going to ask them for).

That's all. Well, for now at least ;-)

Today

I've realized I like the "today" series.

Today...
-I ran on the treadmill (I don't get to it a whole lot on the weekends.)
-We went to the beach and played in the sand for an hour and a half.
-I got sunburnt (on purpose, so I don't at Disney).
-Lillian got sunburnt. Not on purpose. With 50 spf on.
-Lillian had so much fun in the sand, after she got over being scared of it.
-We planted strawberry plants-20, we'll see how many make it.
-We called in a service call for our dryer, which now that the washer works and we did a load of laundry, we found out that the dryer doesn't work.
-We bought 12 cases of pop at the NEX. They have it on sale there often, but I'm sick of running out to get it each time its on sale so we stocked up.
-R caught up on the dishes.
-I estimate our laundry to be done at about 6-7 loads right now. We'll see what it is by Monday afternoon when (hopefully) I can finally do it.
-We drug the kitchen table into the living room (which is now empty because we took the ottoman in for leather repair) and ate dinner as a family at the table and played games.
-We watched "Life After People" on the history channel. It is super fascinating and I recommend everyone watch it.
-I ran into a girl from Michigan at the beach. I haven't seen her since I quit working for Kathy. (Beth, it was Melissa) It was odd, but super fun.
-I fit into my plaid capris that I bought in 8th grade. And for those of you that are wondering, it was 13, yes a WHOPPING 13 years ago. They are now officially in the Disney pile.
-Some girls at church had a "girls night" and did not invite others of us. Unfortunately, this is becoming an ever increasing habit. I thought I left junior high 13 years ago. Apparently not.

Today

Today is a new day and brings an entirely new set of "Today..." statements (imagine that). As you can probably tell, I am either too busy lately or too lazy (or both) to write in comprehensible paragraphs so you get lists. Eh, it gets the facts across just the same in less of your very valuable time right?

Today...
-I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of our new front load washer and dryer to be delivered (tomorrow).
-I am sitting in awe that someone from craigslist is coming by in an hour to buy our washer as well as our defunct dryer.
-I am trying to find the address to send my mid-month Discover card payment to them so we can use it on our Disney trip without going over the limit. (I'm addicted to their cash back program.)
-Two maintenance men arrived in the middle of my treadmill time. I yelled come in and didn't stop. They wern't jerks. Imagine that.
-The maintenance men, actually, one maintenance man and one maintenance man in training, "fixed" my dishwasher (which has been ending the cycle with water left in the bottom) by replacing a gasket and saying "call when it happens again".
-Maintenance man and MM in Training "fixed" the cause of water on my master bathroom floor by "tightening the tub drain" and saying "that tub sucks, when it happens again, call us and we'll have to call a tub repair guy cuz if we tighten it more, we'll crack the tub."
-I debated tightening the drain and cracking the tub. I did not. Yet.
-R has training at work, as he does on every Wednesday. It makes him stay late at work, he says its pointless and it makes him cranky.
-The car dealership is still holding my car hostage, saying they are/will fix the oil pan, as soon as the newly ordered part comes in (the part that was supposedly ordered a month ago when I scheduled the appointment).
-Lillian fed her bottle to her (my old) cabbage patch doll.
-I looked on ebay and amazon to buy a larger wardrobe for said cabbage patch doll and sat in stupor seeing how expensive they are. Do I really have to make some? Really?!?!
-It is much cooler than the 92 degrees of the last few days. I shut off the air and opened the windows and love it. I don't love though, that we can't leave Lil's open at night because its at ground level and there are no burglar bars.
-The EI (Early Intervention) lady came for our intake appointment. She will schedule a time for two therapists to come out and that is in late May, after our Disney trip.
-We have to go buy HE (High Efficiency) soap for our new laundry machines that are coming tomorrow. (Just a little excited!)

Today

Today...I am sick. I feel like a swine with the flu. I mean, I feel like I have the swine flu. Well, I'm just sick, but it may be the first reported case of swine flu in Virginia.

Today...our dryer took four cycles to dry one (small) load of clothes. Now I'm searching for a new (to us) dryer, trying to find people who will come pick up and dispose of our old dryer, and trying to find places in our house to hang the three loads of laundry that were after that load.

Today...R discovered why our vacuum has been stinking up the house. The bag, which was not yet full, was covered with mold inside and out, as well as the filter. Joy.

Today...we dropped the car off for a new oil pan. Thankfully, if you will remember from posts awhile ago, this was the dealership's error and although they will not admit that, they have agreed to pay for the whole process.

Today...Lillian puked. Not while in the car. On my bare feet.

Today...we didn't have Kylie because she has an ear infection which Tricare refused to see her for so she had to go to the ER. Gotta love Tricare.

Today...I am pooped.

All is well

There is/are...

no pop in my dining room
no toys in my living room (or kitchen, or bedroom, or bathroom for that matter)
no extra food in the linen closet
no toys in MY bathroom (she has her own)
seven large new pieces of furniture in my house and still plenty of room
flowers outside my front door



However....
There is....
not as much natural light
no back door
more to clean
mom and dad left

But...
I'm getting highlights in a half hour
today's the circus
Sunday we actually get to go to Bible Study for the first time in forever
Monday is girl's breakfast
Tuesday is R's 27th birthday
Wednesday is Bible Study at our house
Thursday is raking for an older lady in need
Friday is the botanical garden and leaving for NC
This weekend we see the Howards (and even Courtney) and the Fuscos
Next week we take the car in for a FREE oil pan replacement and oil change
Then..........we go to DISNEY WORLD! For 8 days!

Prayer needed

We need prayer for a couple things for Saturday...

1. That it won't rain. Currently there is a 70% chance of precipitation :-(

2. That R's shoulder will be well enough that he can help out some

3. But also, that R doesn't do too much, and hurt his shoulder worse

4. That mom and dad have safe and quick travels tomorrow (Friday)

5. That our friends are all able to help us, that no one gets hurt, and that the job gets done quickly.


Thanks!

These are my two biggest anxietys about moving.

My OCD closet. Everything is hung first according to color, then by sleeve length, spaghetti strap first, then tank tops, then short sleeve, then three quarter sleeve, then long sleeve. If a shirt has a raised collar, that will go in the back of that sleve length's category. Somehow I don't think the boys that help us move will a) understand my system and b) care that it stays intact through the move.







My most prized posessions. The hanging glass globes from my wedding ceremony. I have yet to hang them up since then, I'm waiting for a space that is worthy. However, I have been heard to say "those mean more to me than you" to both my husband and my daughter :-). The yellow duct tape on the corners is our system for the moving boys to know that something is fragile. I'm tempted to wrap these two boxes totally in yellow duct tape, and might if not for fear that I would run out. My saving grace is that the boxes are brightly colored so it should be easy to keep my eye on them all day long. I'm thinking of taking them and giving them safe storage in my Pacifica on move day. Bringing them over, myself, after all the wonderful moving friends are gone. No offense to anyone, of course.

Moving

This is Command Central. With lists of things to do before we move, things to clean before and after we move, things we need to buy, etc as well as a calendar box for each day and that day's tasks (on post-its for easy moving to the next day if it doesn't get done-that's about as flexible as I get).





















Our current pile of boxes in the dining room.











The newly repainted boring beige wall.

Command Central has been up and running for about a week now. Mr. Maintenance, as we will now call him, was glad to see a huge list of things to do and clean before we move. He was dismayed however, that it was on poster board, adhered to the wall with packing tape. He asked if I was planning on painting that wall as well. Nope.

I am thoroughly unimpressed with the choices for original TV lately.

We got a lot accomplished this weekend. One bathroom deep cleaned. All bedroom windows cleaned, top to bottom, inside and out. Back deck cleaned, planters and windchime cleaned. Back door cleaned. All floors inside cleaned. We packed all the board and card games (which required two large Uhaul boxes, believe it or not). We packed all the other stuff in the guest room closet. R cleaned the cockroach graveyard out of the utility closet and scrubbed the floor. I packed the linen closet. We packed the other miscellaneous stuff that hasn't been fitting in the boxes it needs to go in, all inside a box labeled "misc". I know, I know. It goes against everything I believe in, but boxes are at a shortage and it couldn't be helped.

I re-vamped command Central for the new move date.

I planned a date night for friday night which will consist of dinner and a movie. Brandon and Lindsey are going to keep Lillian, overnight even, if she isn't too much of a terror while "going to sleep".

Our moving day changed. It is now April 11th - Easter weekend. It was not our choice and we were almost uninformed of the change. That is all I'm going to say about that.

I flirted with the creepy maintenance man again today. It was after he saw me pull in and drove his golf cart over to say hi. I complained that we saw a carpet cleaning van over there (at the new apartment) a day ago and were disappointed because we've heard the previous tenants were such pigs that we thought we'd for sure get new carpet. He said that he told the office it was still dirty "and besides, my good friend's moving in there and its not good enough for her". He said it wasn't official yet, but we'll most likely get new carpet. We better. I didn't inhale his cigarette smoke for no reason at all.

I took the double stroller into the bank again today and played "knock down the lane markers". I got several dirty looks. But what can you do when none of your bank branches have drive through lanes and you tell the receptionist that your stroller can't fit through the line, you know from experience, and can you just wait up front til your turn, and she says "just make it fit". Okay lady. I got a strike though, cuz all of the pins went down :-D

The bathroom and living room are all painted back to boring beige. And we have nothing on the walls and no curtains up in the main living area. Its weird.

Lillian has a new aversion to sleeping. And eating. No biggie really, they're not that necessary are they?

Somehow my TiVo got set to record every episode of "toddlers and tiaras". What a stupid, horrible show. Waste of time. And while we're on the subject of TLC shows, Table for 12 is stupid and I feel bad for Jon (of Jon and Kate plus 8). Kate needs to man down a little.

The UPS truck just pulled up to my building. And walked up to another door. Sad.

PS-Does anyone want the job of notifying the world of my change in address? Its getting old rather fast. Even if I do it online, they call to make sure its right. YES PEOPLE, I'm moving from one apartment to another in the same complex, therefore the only thing changing is the "house" number. It's not a typo. I did not waste my time filling out your whole change of address form, when my address is not actually changing. I have never even heard of anyone doing that for fun.

The electric company actually had the nerve to argue with me about whether my new address existed. I told them I was looking at it right out my window and they still said "we have no record of that". Well friends, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means you need to update your records.

The circus is this month. Its on a duty day for Richard. I hope he doesn't have to work that day. And if so, too bad buddy, I'm going anyways. And I just might fill out an application while I'm there ;-)

Richard is in excruciating pain in his shoulder/neck area and is unable to move, lift or sleep. The Navy hospital refused to see him and sent him to medical. Medical saw him and re-scheduled him for next Monday.

That means...

I'm....

taking care of a lame (and whiney) husband on drugs.
taking care of a fussy fussy FUSSY baby who just got back from vacation and is cutting two molars.
taking care of another (although delightful) baby during the weekdays.
unpacking from vacation.
doing insane amounts of laundry.
packing for moving.
changing our address at 8 million places.
talking again to 8 million places to assure them that yes, our address is very similar, but different. No, its not a mistake.
painting the bathroom. Three times.
cleaning all paint supplies because the other rooms require flat paint.
painting the living room. Two times.
making a decision that the dining room and bedroom will not be painted until after we move and mom and dad are here to do it. Sorry guys!

UGH

Moving was a pain in the butt the first time and I had a husband, money and no kids.
This time around it just SUCKS. I want a wife. Or a husband. Or a nanny. Or all three.

Its a good thing I really want this new apartment or I'd have quit everything, changed my name and joined the circus days ago. I'm sure training for that would be easier on my joints. And you get paid to be crazy there.

Our homeward bound airplane experience

NOTE: Our vacation bound airplane experience was HORRIBLE with a capital everything and I refuse to even think about it again, let alone relive it through writing. But it turns out that Lillian had a yet undiagnosed double ear infection, upper respiratory infection and a viral infection. I attribute some of her behavior to that. The rest, I attribute to her father. He gets that distinction just because he wasn't there to deal with it.

I will say, United did get me to all four of my destinations on time or early which is a MUCH better experience than I have ever had with them. However, I had to pay $65 extra dollars for my baggage which is a crock. And one plane each way was nice and big and clean and fresh. The other plane each way (the long leg each way, of course) smelled like a mixture of poo, puke, urine, butt, bo, and anything else bad you can think of. I think next time instead of paying for extra baggage with cash, I'm going to pay them with febreeze.

Anywho, on to the reason for this post...

We had an overall good flight experience yesterday, much better than on the way to vacation, but it was much more interesting this time.

A man was up, going to the bathroom, and taking a pen out of his jacket pocket at the same time. The Air Marshall, who was sitting across from me, behind one row, leaped out of his seat and tackled Mr. Bathroom. After he left his feet but before he landed on Mr. Bathroom, he already had his gun and badge out, one in each hand. It was very impressive. And terrifying, but very impressive. By the time they were both on the ground 4-5 other people were up, ready to do what they needed to do.

However, Mr. Bathroom was only taking his ink pen out of his pocket while on his way to the bathroom. Note: NEVER do this while on an air plane, apparently. Mr. Marshall re-enacted it later and it did indeed look like a gun or knife being pulled out.

All was good and well and poor Mr. Marshall knew he had done what he had to, but was still very embarrassed. I thanked him for doing what he did and doing it so stinkin fast.

The layover in Chicago, at O'Hare, was thankfully just over two hours because we had to dig a tunnel from C terminal to F terminal. Not really, but it felt like that. The shuttle that takes you to and fro is not available to Handicappers and Strollers. Bad planning and very discriminatory in my mind.

The second flight, the long one, would have been horrible if it were not for Soldier boy and his wife who were sitting across from me. We were in the very last row and Lillian flirted with Soldier boy all the way home. He let her chew on his dog tags, throw his cell phone on the ground and lifted her up to turn on and off the light probably 150 times. He and/or his wife held her for a good 45 minutes of the flight, and she was calm and playful. Everytime she was returned to me, she arched her back and threw a screaming banshee hissee fit. I felt the same way, believe me. And each time, they just took her back. After we laneded and were taxxing to the jetway (not a long time at all for those of you that know the Norfolk airport), she fell asleep, finally, after being awake from 8am to 8pm.

She was thrilled to see Daddy and refused to go to bed until she played with him for a bit when we got home.

Trade You Tuesday: Slow Cooker Recipes

Whitney, at the Whitney Caroline Designs blog, is hosting a Trade You Tuesday, in order to collect fabulous slow cooker recipes. In return she is giving out 10% off coupons to her fabulous store. She will also feature a recipe each week and is including a great giveaway.

Most of my slow cooker genius is throwing what I see in the fridge in the crock pot, adding some salt or butter (or both) and stirring. However, that does not lend itself to a great recipe.

One of my favorites though, despite the name, is Veggie Burgers. Its a family favorite but oh so easy. Its the idea of a sloppy joe, but for some reason tastes so much better.

You brown 1 pound of hamburger (I spose you could use the crock pot to brown it, but I buy mine in bulk and brown it all together and freeze in 1lb bags) and put it in the crock pot. Add one can of Vegetable soup, without adding water. Stir. Wait awhile. Plop on a bun and enjoy. See, I told you it was easy. My favorite is to open up the bun, put the gooey goodness on both halves and sprinkle a bit of cheese or ketchup over it. Sorry my "recipe" has words like "awhile" and "plop" in it, but I'm not much of a recipe user so this is as close as I get. I prefer to call it "guidance.

You can make the recipe in any size, just keep the ratio the same, one pound to one can. I've made as much as five of each for our bible study group and it turned out just as wonderful.

I wish I had a picture, but I don't. Sorry! I do, however, have a dilemma. I don't like vegetables. Never have, never will. But I love these. Therefore I don't think the name Veggie Burgers really works for me. And since its my recipe, I feel like I have the right to change it. I just am not sure what to change it to. I'm thinking Monster Mash, or Gooey Goop, or maybe not. Any ideas?

Catching up...

Lillian is walking.

She has lost some weight again, but not much.

I just returned from a girl's getaway weekend at Lake Keowee in South Carolina and it was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.

Richard is having some nausea and sickness. He had a follow up appointment today and they did more x-rays and took more blood, to ensure it is not still related to the motorcycle accident.

I convinced insurance to pay for a new helmet, they did not specify which one. Richard ordered a helmet today, the total was $730.

Richard drove his completely fixed motorcycle home today from the dealership. I'm trying to be cool with this.

I got another new stroller. Yes, really. It's completely retarded that there are not stroller rental places where you can try before you buy. If I were more motivated...This stroller is a more deluxe version of the first stroller I had. I love it. We already have our old stroller sold. Who hoo!

I am leaving early EARLY Friday morning, with Lillian, to fly to Iowa for just over a week. I can't wait! But I am terrified about the flight. I have been getting sick on airplanes lately, which is a new thing for me, and she is in a tantrum phase. Please pray everything goes well Friday morning from about 6am to noon.

I am blogging less and less, life is just too busy.

We are moving. To a three bedroom. Finally. For sure. The begining of April. Our address will change, but only the house number. I will not post it here, but let me know if you need it. I'm not sending out "we're moving" cards. I'm thrilled and it will be great, but it wasn't much notice and I had two vacations planned between the notice and the move.

I started packing today and it feels great. We also have a huge Goodwill pile, which feels even better. I have to find more boxes and packing material before I can do more.

Mom and Dad are coming when we move and I am more excited about that than moving. I wish they could stay for a year.

I am still using my Wii Fit every day and I LOVE it. I will miss it while I'm in Iowa. I also have to go shopping for Disney clothes while I'm in Iowa. Hmm, maybe Iowa won't be AS fun as I was thinking. Shopping for clothes for myself is NOT my favorite thing, especially when it doesn't involve sweatshirts and pj pants.

I am still having a horrible time sleeping. I sleep about four hours a day. Although I do feel tired, I just can't sleep. Thankfully, this seems to be working okay, because I can still function.

My cousin Mikey is home from Afghanistan. Yay!

I talked to a friend from elementary school today via email. It was wierd. Facebook seems to let people try to make up for ignoring you years earlier by sending you a friend request. I had one friend in high school. Yet, dozens of people from high school have "friended" me. An odd phenomenom if you ask me.

I also had few friends in college, two total, but mostly one at a time.

I now have at least 9 girl friends and 9 of their husbands who I would consider good friends, most even "best friends". I am so completely happy with my life right now. I don't want this time to end. The first break up in our group is scheduled for August when one couple is restationed. Then we are up in January, possibly. I'm heartbroken they're leaving and I'm praying with all my might that we are able to stay in this area. I have real friends, yes, plural, dozens even, and I'm so happy.

The skin on my left hand is peeling off. Little bits of one layer at a time, constantly. It's wonderful. Pretty soon, my wedding ring will have to be re-sized because so many layers of epidermis will have fallen off.

I got to go to Hobby Lobby this last weekend. It was bliss.

I also go to go to the Jockey Lot, Anderson's flea market. It was bliss.

I almost got to go to a rodeo. But not quite. Bummer.

I cannot think of a single thing I want for myself for my birthday. I always laughed at people when they said that. Before. Now, I want stuff for Lillian. I want stuff to decorate her room. For me, but still for her. If I was given money, I would probably spend it on something for her. This isn't to say I don't see things I like when I walk through the mall, or that I never buy anything, just that I can't think of a single thing I want that I can tell someone else to get for me.

I have been searching for several things for awhile, but can't find just the right one:
A new handbag
A great pair of shoes (or four-I'm in desperate need right now)
A very small coin purse/wallet for times when I throw it in the diaper bag.
A new tote, that is the perfect size, but also zips completely (for when Lillian shakes it, tips it, drags it, etc)
Disney clothes (UGH, need I say more)
A watch
The perfect necklace. (I think I might have found it, but I'm not sure yet.)
The perfect waterbottle (skinny enough to fit in all cupholders, tall enough to hold at least 24 oz, pref 32, has a non spill -not ever, no matter what-lid but also a small enough spout to drink out of without dribbling)
A chunky bracelet to be worn (most) everyday. Although if I found a watch, that would probably negate this.
The perfect summer nail polish. I've had the same one for the last few years and now the lid is eternally stuck on and I'm deciding whether to buy the same or switch it up.

See, there are things I want, but I've been looking for awhile and can't find ones I like, so I'm certain you could not.

Although I have found the perfect thing lately for a few things I'd been searching for:
A snappy camera
A camera bag (I found it this weekend, and think its great, although I don't have enough use experience to consider it perfect just yet)
A new stroller. Actually the same stroller as #1. But snappier. This is now #3 and I'm completely satisfied.


I sent my sister in law a gift card for her birthday, and a generic card, and didn't send it til about four days after her birthday. LAME-O. Sorry Kristen, I'm not with it this year. I'm debating whether I am going to have a "no card" year. I'm thinking of boycotting Hallmark and the Post Office in any way I can. Hallmark just sent me a new rewards card because I am now a "Platinum Preferred Member". That's just sick.

We still have two girls in our sunday school class who are presently pregnant. Two. This is TERRIFYING because it always happens in threes. There are three two year old boys. There are three one year old girls. There are three newborn girls. There are two women pregnant. Do you see the problem here. I am forced not to consume any water and buy all of my Diet Coke from out of state until this situation is remedied.

I will be 27 on March 19. That is big for me. Not that I'm turning 27, but that I know I'm turning 27. For this last year, when asked how old I am, I have honestly answered "26 or 27, I'm not sure". That whole math thing is hard for me, you have to know how to subtract and then know if that is if your birthday has already happened, or not, etc. This is bad also because I know Richard is the same age as me, minus a month, Kyle and Kristen are two years younger than me, minus just a bit, Ashley is a year younger than me. Do you see? If I don't know how old I am, then I'm lost on everyone else too.

I'm going to take Lillian to Grandpa Shipp's grave while I'm in Iowa. I don't remember ever being there. I love to walk through cemetaries and even make whole letters made up of photos of last names on gravestones. However, I don't like to visit family and friends there. I don't know why, that's just how it is. But now its different. That is one of the only ways Lillian will ever connect with Grandpa Shipp and it makes me sick to think she won't know him. Even Richard. I wish for a day with him. I was only five. But I remember so much. He will forever be my favorite relative of all time. I can't wait to introduce two of my favorite people. Now that I'm bawling... on to less serious things.

I balance our checkbook. The only reason that makes me happy is because it does get done, rather than the alternative if R did it. Other than that, I hate it. I put it off as long as possible. I have a hugely intricate system of managing colums and rows on excel to keep every cent in each different category separate and accounted for and I love it but it makes me tired. Although once I start, after I have entered receipts, verified amounts online, transferred money to different accounts, paid bills and balanced, I have such a fantastic sense of accomplishment. When I have a minute next, probably in June, I plan on re-vamping my system. That makes me rediculously happy.

What would also make me rediculously happy is if it was 65 every day we were at Disney, and I had a guarrantee of that now. I can do jeans and a tee shirt all day long. Its finding shorts and capri's for a short person that makes me crazy. Next summer though, I hope to be able to wear the ones I already have in my closet that don't quite fit again yet. I also want a fantastically stellar picture of the three of us with Mickey and Minnie at Disney. In front of the castle would be AMAZING. I know the chances of this are slim, that we will see them both together, that we will be able to get a picture with them togeter and even more that the picture will be fantastically splendid of everyone, but I keep wishing. I want to blow it up huge and stare at it every day forever, instead of TV. (I'm just a little excited to go to Disney.)

And we're taking a behind the scenes tour! Without Lillian! And its five hours long!

And we're EATING IN THE CASTLE. EATING. IN. THE. DISNEY. CASTLE.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Richard laughs at me flirting with the old, dirty maintenance man. But he'll be so happy when we get all new light fixtures, door knobs, doors, etc. I hope the people in our new apartment right now are filthy pigs and ruin everything they can. I'm aiming for new carpet, new blinds, new light fixtures, new door knobs, new front door, new doors and a new kitchen floor would ROCK. I think we can do it. I mean, I did get insurance to buy R a $730 helmet.

Britt Jones is the coolest person I know. For several reasons. Only the first of which is that his initials are PBJ. His flaw though, is that he truly thought (and argued the fact that) my name was Stacey Shrimp Bill. Yes, as in the bill of a shrimp. Hmm...not so much. Although I am contemplating changing my name to that splendid combination. I could do it on facebook and throw off those "friends" from high school....It's looking better and better.

I'm still freaked out about that dumb bike. If we had the money I'd sell both that and the truck and buy him the Dodge Challenger he wants. Eh well. Maybe the stress will help me fit in those capri's in the closet that are the perfect length...

Night all, well, morning really. Its 1am. Told you I'm having trouble sleeping.

Motorcycle Accident

I just don't have the time or the energy to go into this whole thing right now. I am adding as much detail as my fried brain can remember right now but I'm sure there are lots of holes. Please leave comments with any questions or things that you want more info on and I'll fill in the information I forgot.

The short of it is, Richard had a motorcycle accident Friday night. It was in a parking lot, no other vehicle involved and we're thinking it was mechanical error. He had just started going, was not even up to 10 mph and the bike threw him up, over the handlebars and off to the right. He hit the ground about 25 feet away on his right side and bounced twice more, landing on his back. I was behind him in the Pacifica and saw the whole thing, as did a friend, who was in front and saw it all in the rear view mirror.

Richard is okay, banged and bruised, with a couple cuts, but okay. He had some nausea today, but it is gone now. The bike needs some major repairs but is not as bad as it could have been or even that we first thought. Insurance should cover everything but our $500 deductible, and if they can find a mechanical error, we shouldn't have to even pay that. We had friends help get the bike into the back of the truck today and Richard is going to drop it off at the dealership on Monday.

It was HORRIBLE to watch but I'm glad I was there. And we had amazing friends there who helped take care of everything, including both of us.

Richard will ride again. And that day will SUCK for me. BUT there are so many things to be thankful for in all of this, so many things were the best possible they could have been and everything was better than it could have been.

We are so thankful he is alive and not seriously hurt. Fixing the bike will be a pain, but its do able. We are grateful.

All of the pictures, with comments are here ...http://picasaweb.google.com/StaceyBrill/BikeAccident?feat=directlink

but here are a couple pictures for those of you who have dial up still and can't see the other website (MOM AND DAD BRILL :-).

Lillian is now taking 5-6 steps at a time...but only when she wants to, about once a day.

We just re-arranged the whole Living Room/Dining Room area and I LOVE IT. We're still hoping to move ASAP, but this makes it not feel so monotonous in the mean time.

I think that's it, pretty slow around here the last couple days.

ER

We went to the ER this morning because Lil woke up with a horrible rash, hundreds of red pinpoint dots all over her head, arms and torso. The doctor said its Fifth's Disease. Which he said "looks like death, but is nothing". He said its basically when your body has cold for a month and thinks you don't know, it gives you a rash, so you can't miss it. Its contagious, but only the cold part, the rash itself is not contagious.

He okayed for Kylie to stay here, because they've been together so much, probably passing this cold back and forth, and whatever Kylie's going to get, she's already gotten.

So, it was freaky, and still looks freaky, but it doesn't hurt or itch and she's completely herself. I do have to keep her away from pregnant people til the rash goes away (2days-2weeks) though. No biggie.

Fat

So, I'm still fat.

But...in an effort not to be depressed by that I remind myself that...

I have worked out nearly every day for the last 10 months.
I have worked out EVERY day since Dec 30.
I refuse to have a treadmill in the middle of my living room for no reason, so I might as well use it.
I gained an ungodly amount of weight during pregnancy but it was not my fault, due to pre-e
Because I gained so much, I have lost much more than most other February mommys have in the last year.

And today, because I was feeling especially fat, and watching The Biggest Loser, I figured out my percentage.

Drumroll please.........

I have lost 24% of my bodyweight in one year, including 8 weeks down for major abdominal surgery, and having mono.

GO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Weekend Catchup

The professional pictures are not done yet, I will post a link when they are up.

We are going to a BYOSK Super Bowl party tonight, hosted by the lovely Owen family. Any guesses?

We started a new Bible Study in Sunday School today, its called Two Becoming One and is really good so far.

Lillian's favorite birthday presents are (in no particular order): castle tent with balls in it, rocking/riding horse, talking puppy and stuffed minnie and mickey.

We're SO CLOSE to filing our tax return, just waiting on the form from the stock company. We are getting back a large refund and are dividing it as follows:
25% stocks
15% house
15% bike
10% emergency fund
10% lillian
10% richard
10% stacey
5% christmas

Oma and Opa Brill got Lillian the Liberty's Kids complete series DVD set for her birthday and it just arrived in the mail and I can't wait to watch it.

We re-organized almost the whole house this week, sadly no furniture moving though. I firmly believe that there is no other way to adequately arrange our furniture to fit in the space and fit our needs. Those of you that know me well, know that makes me sad (and have convulsions).

The girls in the office said we should be in a three bedroom in "early spring". I figure since it was 50 today, it must be "early spring" but I'm thinking they're thinking March or April. Sad. I want to move today.

We had a MEOWW (Mom's Evening Out With Whitney) on Friday night and had Poker Night. It was hilarious since most of us did not know how to play poker, but we had fun. Whit sold some stuff from her store to the girls and then we played Taboo. I stayed til 2:30am. Whitney and I haven't hung out enough lately, obviously.

Richard put on his pants this morning and as he was putting his leg in, a cockroach came out. EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

I had my first cooking fire ever and my first time setting off the fire alarm in this apartment the other night. It happened to be the night we were watching Savannah. No, Eric and Teresa, we wern't trying to fry your daughter. I was heating oil for chicken, like I have done a million times and it caught on fire. Flames a foot high, we put the lid on but it wouldn't go out, so the pan went outside for two days. The pan is toast, well not literally, but it is fried. We bought a new pan at Target today.

Someday, I am going to buy a retardedly expensive set of pans.

I need new kitchen towels and a bathroom rug. We can't find a bathroom rug that meets Mr. Picky's "softness standards" AND does not have rubber on the bottom. (The rubber makes it take four hours to dry and I HATE getting wet socks.)

We just ordered two toy organizing bins which I am ridiculously excited about.

As Richard's surprise for my birthday, instead of Ashley coming here on her spring break, Lillian and I are flying to Iowa. This way, I will get to see Cyndi and Family and Grandma too. It is good, and I'm glad he planned a suprise for me, but I'm freaked out about flying on my own with Lillian at this bi-polar stage she's in, and because she refuses to fall asleep while being held.

This week should be pretty quiet for us, nothing planned really.