down to the wire!

Packers are coming bright and early tomorrow.  The loaders are coming in the afternoon.  Truck was already delivered.  I feel like I've got a giant countdown clock ticking away above my head. 

We haven't stressed too much over the packing, we've packed what we could easily do, and stuff we weren't using we packed over the course of the last few weeks, but I haven't touched my craft closet and there's plenty of stuff in the kitchen etc that they'll pack for us, as well as some of the pictures on the wall and all the electronics stuff.  We did spend a lot of time the last few weeks cleaning out drawers and cubbards and throwing a bunch of crap away.  Scott has really been busting his butt this past week with me being unable to do much.  He's so wonderful!  I'm just glad I'm able to walk around now, slow but at least I'm moving and can carry stuff.  Today I'm working on packing everything for the trip.  I've got 3 suitcases, one for the last few days here, one for on the road, and one for once we get to MI before the rest of our stuff arrives.  The logistics of the move are the most stressful, trying to make sure I have everything we need for the kids and dogs.  Need to find leashes, blankies, beloved toys and teddy bears, sippy cups, etc.  And that's just for the car ride!  LOL.  We bought the pre-mixed formula for Erin for the trip so that we can just dump a can of it into her sippy cup rather than dealing with powder and water and all that in the car.  She's 10.5 mos old and not allergic to milk, but she still needs the formula to supplement her nutrition in between solids.  We've given her milk a couple of times like when we were at Grandma's and didn't have formula on hand, but for the most part she still gets formula.  Too bad she isn't just a couple months older!  We also give her dilluted juice but only a little each day.  I tried the pre-mixed formula on her this morning to make sure (even though it is the same Enfamil Premium we always use, I just wanted to be sure she would drink it) and she was happy with it.  She gets a kick out of the sippy cup. 

Anyway, back to the packing.  I'm trying to make it so that we don't have to haul a bunch of suitcases every place we stop, but I'm terrified I'm not going to have enough of something in each one, and Meg will have to wear a dirty shirt or something.  I ALWAYS way overpack.  Scott and I went on a 3 day cruise one time.  He brought a carry on suitcase.  I brought 2 large suitcases.  Now that we have kids I'm wayyyyyyy worse.  I pack twice as many clothes as I think they'll need to make sure that when they spill something on their shirt or fall down in mud I have back up clothes.  And I'll probably pack tons of PJ's even though Meg usually insists on sleeping in her clothes (hey, pick your battles.  Besides, it means less laundry for me!) because I know if I don't pack PJs she'll insist she NEEDS them and it will mean a hissy fit. 

Well, Erin is up for her nap so I need to deal with her.  Thanks for reading! 

Good news and bad news

I had an MRI done of my knee yesterday to determine exactly what is wrong with it and how to fix it.  The good news is that I can now walk, sort of.  They gave me a walking locking brace for my knee so I can hobble.  I've been using one crutch at the same time because my knee still feels unstable, but at least I can do things like carry a milk jug or my own purse.  I am not comfortable carrying the baby around but I'll be more up to that maybe in a day or two. 

The bad news is that they said it looks like I tore my ACL.  The doc said they usually wait a few weeks to repair them, so I can have it done in Michigan after we get settled and things.  Plus we'll be close enough to go to the U of M hospital, one of the best in the country (of course it is, GO BLUE!) so I'll be in good hands.  Not totally thrilled about it, but it could have been worse. 

I called my dad after I left the doctor, and he laughed.  LAUGHED.  I haven't heard him laugh that hard in a while.  Gee, glad I amuse ya!  :-)  He mocked me too, said "Hold ma beer n watch me do this!" @@. 

I can only hope that my children have inherited more physical grace and intelligence than I have. 

uh, something popped. That can't be good.

Went to my doc today to get my knee re-checked.  She asked if I was able to put any weight on it and I said that I hadn't tried b/c they told me not to for a few days.  So I kinda leaned a bit on it and that wasn't too terrible, so she asked me to get up on the table and lie face down so she could bend my knee.  Well while trying to get up on the table I kinda put more weight on it, and something popped and my knee completely buckled under me.  Hurt like hell too.  So, yeah, she said absolutely do not put any weight on it, and I have to get an MRI done as soon as they get my insurance to approve it.  She thinks it could be a really bad sprain but she's worried I might have torn something.  If that's the case, she said they'll get it diagnosed here, but that any treatment would obviously have to be done in MI. 

This sucks.  This completely and totally sucks.  Yeah it may sound nice that I get to sit and knit and watch New Moon, but I feel awful that I can't carry the baby or help with the packin and cleaning or anything.  Poor Scott has been given a bunch of new responsibilities at work in addition to his old ones, and on top of that he's been trying to get extra stuff done so that he can deal with moving next week.  Now he has to do all that AND take care of me and the baby and everything.  I can't carry stuff with crutches, so he has to wait on me and bring me ice and food and all that.  He's pissed, not at me but just in general.  I guess I don't blame him, but his attitude is making me feel worse even though that isn't his intention.  So sorry babe, I didn't mean to be a complete idiot.  Today when the nurse asked me what happened, I said "well, 29 years ago my Grandma dropped me on my head.  I think it must have impaired my judgement." 

I'm trying to convince Scott to ask his mom to help out with Erin.  I know he doesn't want to burden her, but I'm sure since we're leaving soon she'll be happy to spend some extra time with E.  I was really hoping that the doc could do something like give me some sort of stabilizing brace that I could walk with, but that was before I realized that my knee couldn't handle any weight.  That pop scared the hell out of me.  God, what if I have to have surgery or rehab or something??  What completely shitty timing.  I'm a moron.  I willnever ever ever attempt a bike stunt again. 

On top of all this, now Scott is freaking out about how we're getting to MI.  We had planned to drive his truck so he could take the boat and his folks were going to drive our van next month.  Well, I don't know if I can get up into the truck, since the bottom of the door is higher than my waist.  I told him we could try it with a step stool but that might be tricky with crutches.  Yeah, this is gonna be so freaking much fun.  If I can't get into the truck I have no idea what we're going to do.  His folks can't drive the truck with the boat.  The only thing I can think of is if they come up with us right away and I ride in the van, but I don't know. 

This is a nightmare.  What the hell was I thinking when I got on that bike?????

Wish us luck please.  ::::::sigh::::::

comments fixed. Sort of. I think.

OK I think I have the comments fixed, sort of.  If you click on the title of the post it will pull up the individual post and at the bottom of it is the comments box.  You can't post comments on the main page of the blog still for some reason, but on the individual pages you can.  Make sense?  I'm still working on it to figure out why you can't post comments from the main page where it shows all the recent posts, but at least I found a way to post them for now.  Sorry for any inconvience!  :-)

Reason for visit to ER? "I'm a dumbass"

My husband built Brendan a bike ramp yesterday out of a few pieces of spare lumber.  B was having a blast but was going very slow over it.  I think  must have had an alien controling my mind, or I must have gone temporarily insane or something, because I had the words "that's not how you do it.  Let Momma show you how it's done." come out of my mouth.  What the hell was I thinking?!?!  Scott got me a new bike last week and it is a montain bike so I thought that gave me magical bike powers.  So I hop on my new (hot pink!) bike, complete with baby seat on the back (which probably doesn't help my already precarious balance!) and tried the jump.  TRIED.  DID NOT SUCCEED.  Bike landed off balance and being the idiot that I am, I tried to stop myself from falling.  Twisted the hell out of my knee and landed in a heap.  Luckily the knee was the only thing on me that got hurt.  The bike now needs a bit of straightening too apparently.  So there I was laying on the ground, wimpering (well, OK, crying) and asking for a pillow because I didn't want to get up and the ground was hard.  Brendan was standing over me saying "Momma come on, you have to get up and try again".  Scott was complaining because he hadn't figured out the video function on my phone in time.  He got me in the house and then had to go to the store.  Erin had already been buckled in the car to go with him when I had my not-so-brilliant brainstorm to try a death defying stunt.  I called my mom to tell her what an idiot I am and she said I should get it checked out and that she would take me so Scott didn't have to drag the kids.  the ER here is never busy so I got in pretty quick, they did an xray and said it was probably just a bad sprain and that I need to keep it immobilized and stay on crutches for a few days until I have a follow up visit with an ortho.  Scott wasn't happy about that, since with crutches I can't carry the baby or anything and he has to work and take care of kids, but when I yelled at him and told him he was being a complete ass, and his parents (who were here) agreed with me, he calmed down and apologized.  He's been a big help, brought me breakfast and coffee and meds this am, got B ready and off to school and has taken care of the girls all morning.  Meanwhile I'm on the couch with my foot up, trying to avoid moving too much since navagating the house with all the boxes and kids' crap on crutches is not very easy.  plus my knee hurts like hell.  I stilll can't believe I did that.  What the hell was I thinking??  I've never been very coordinated.  I still can't believe I managed to make the cheerleading squad in high school since I've always been a complete klutz.  the nurse yesterday handed me my crutches and asked "do you know how to use these?"  I said "Oh yea, I'm a pro" and took off down the hall.  I even beat mom to the door.  Hell, I think this is like the 8th time I've been on crutches thanks to things like weak ankles and idiocy.  I was even on crutches for my HS graduation because I tripped a few days before.  I wanted to just limp but the doc insisted I had to use crutches.  I had planned to ditch them behind a tree anyway, but I think my parents figured that because Dad walked me right up to the line.  Talk about mortifying! 

Hopefully when I see the ortho in a few days he says I can start using my leg again, since I can't drive or anything (it is my right leg).  Scott is going to take me to my knitting night since it is the last chance I get to go.  Thank God we have movers to do the packing since I don't think I'm going to get much else packed this week.  I'm an idiot.  I'm a moron.  I'm a klutz.  ::::;sigh::::::

queen of messes

Still can't figure out the comments.  I have all the settings set the same way as my other blog and it isn't working, so who knows.  Hubby said he will look tomorrow at the HTML and see if something is screwy there.  Me trying to read HTML is like me trying to read Hebrew.

Anyway, I had a slightly better day today.  Brendan behaved a bit better and I tried very hard not to yell.  only had to raise my voice a couple of times.  I did get stressed and annoyed at the end of the day because I was feeling overworked and underappreciated so I told Scott "I'm going to take a walk until I cool off!"  It took a 20 minute power walk with some fast tempo music blaring thru my headphones, but it worked.  We all have moments like that.  The bonus was that when I got home, hubby had cleaned the living room and kitchen for me.  He DOES listen!  :-)  I think the reason I was at my wit's end today was because alllllll day long I was cleaning one thing after another, and most of the messes were caused by the Queen of all messes, Meg.  OMG she's like a tornado, leaving a path of distruction wherever she goes.  First it was the sugar all over the kitchen floor from where she decided to stick a spoon in the sugar container.  I think she must have learned to leviate or something because I had put that container where I was SURE it was out of her reach.  And I can't figure out how the sugar got all over the whole kitchen floor, or why it was wet which caused it not to be sucked up by the vaccum.  Thankfully my dogs are back from the trainer, so Thunder cleaned up the sugar before I had even found the broom.  He's my little hoover.  They spent a few days at the trainers getting groomed and giving us a chance to pack without them around.  I never realized how much those dogs clean up--I had to actually sweep every time I fed Erin while they were gone.  When they're here, the mess is gone before Erin is even out of the high chair!  LOL.  But I digress.  Anyway, after I got the sugar cleaned up, I realized Meg had been in the bathroom "washing" her hands an awful long time.  Yep, another soap cake.  she likes baking soap cakes.  What is a soap cake, you ask?  well, it is a cake made out of wet toilet paper, frosted with my nice smelling bath and body works lotion soap.  Luckily I got it in one of their "buy one get 6 free" type sales that they seem to have every other day.  Sometimes she even gets fancy and decorates her cake with toothpaste.  SO much fun.

Speaking of the devil, we let her and Brendan have a sleepover tonight.  It is 3:30 and I'm up with heartburn (stress and a burger from Mickey D's) and I can hear voices coming from her room.  Why are they awake??  [a couple minutes later] OK apparently she woke up and couldn't find the dora cup.  You know, the cup that she insists she MUST have every time she goes to bed, and it has to have ice in it every single time.  then she takes one sip and leaves it in the pocket in her tent.  She's not even thirsty, she just needs to know it is there.  She's even demanded ice in the middle of the night before, because she had woken up and the ice was melted.  I made her get it herself.  :-)

So anyway, where was I?  Oh yeah, the yummy soap cake.  Sent her to her room while I cleaned up that and the rest of the sugar, and then she came out and asked for a snack.  Sure, whatever.  A few minutes later I come into the kitchen and there's a puddle of red crystal light on the table and dripping on to the floor.  Did she even bother to tell me she had spilled?  No, of course not.  She was outside at this point so I cleaned it up and then took the wrapper from her granola bar away from the dog.  We've lived here for 2 years and she still can't find the trash can apparently. 

I am not the neatest person in the world.  I leave yarn all over the place, I can completely ignore clutter, and I usually have laundry (dirty and clean, folded and unfolded) all over the house.  However, my mess queen puts me to shame.  I pity my future son in law.  Hopefully she'll get better at cleaning by that point, or hopefully they have enough money to hire a housekeeper. 

All is finally quiet, including my heartburn.  I think I'll try to get some sleep now.  Gotta rest up for the messes I'm sure she'll make tomorrow!  Or, rather, today!

Comments??

OK apparently this blog is not letting people post comments.  I've gone thru all the settings for this and even compared it to my other blog (http://jensknitsandknonsense.blogspot.com/) which does allow comments, and I can't figure out what is wrong.  Does anyone have any clue?  If it isn't on an easy "click here" button, I'm pretty helpless.  I'm not much of a computer wiz.  I would say, if you know, post a comment, but, well, that wouldn't work.  hmmmmmm.  I guess if you know the answer, please email me at iffer0624@gmail.com and hopefully I can get that fixed.  Thanks!

You must write "I will not color on my sister" 10 times.

Ahhhhhhh what a day it has been.  Brendan has taken not listening to a whole new level.  Is Spring Break over yet???  My friend came over with her son, who is Brendan's age.  While us moms sat and knit, the boys and Meg went out to play.  They were told to stay in the backyard, which they know is the usual rule--stay where I can see you.  Usually I go out with them but I opened the window and since they were supposed to be in the backyard, it SHOULD have been OK.  Well, my dear darling son decided to instead lead them down the road to the houses that are being built in our cul de sac.  I looked out the back window and no kids.  I looked out the front and no kids.  I looked in the driveway and no kids.  I hollered for them and no kids.  Great, so not only did I lose MY kids, but I also lost my friend's kid too.  Wow, I deserve mom of the year.  I finally spotted them when I went into the front yard and saw them down the street.  My friend was getting ready to leave anyway so they left and my kids got sent to their rooms after a swat on the butt and a bit of yelling a lecture.  ("I thought you'd been kidnapped!  You could have gotten hurt or killed!  You embarassed me in front of Auntie C!  What on Earth were you thinking?!?!").  Meg fell asleep during her time out, no surprise as she hadn't napped.  B spent most of his time out trying to talk his way OUT of time out.  ::::sigh::::  So anyway, after his time out he came to me and asked if he could do his art project for school that is due on monday.  He has to decorate cowboy boots for Rodeo week.  (Yeah, I'm gonna miss Texas!  LOL).  I said yes, let me get the markers, and he said "I already have the black one.  The little one."  Oh, my sharpie??  The one I specifically told you NOT to touch???  Yeah, I don't think so, kiddo.  So I go into the kitchen to take it away and get him the washable-kid-friendly markers, and what do I see?  Big X's and lines drawn on my kitchen cubbard doors.  IN PERMANENT MARKER.  OMG.  I thought by 6 he would have grown out of the color-on-everything-but-paper thing.  Apparently not.  I took about 50 deep breaths to keep from killing him, and yelled "Go to your room!!!  RIGHT NOW!!"  Hubby came out to see what was going on, and he spotted the baby.  "Hon, what's that on Erin's head?"  Oh, lovely.  It is a nice large line down the middle of her forehead.  Yes, again, in permanent marker.  At this point he got another spanking and told to stay in his room until he dies until we tell him to come out.  We let him come out after a little over an hour, and after we discovered that thankfully non-acetone nail polish remover takes sharpie off both finished cubbards and baby foreheads.  I washed Erin's head right away afterward and it didn't appear to bother her skin.  I was so worried, I thought we'd have to replace the cubbard doors or something before we put the house on the market. 

While we were cleaning the mess, Scott and I were discussing different ways that we might try to change his behavior.  One of the ideas we decided to try was the old method schools used to use.  Yep, we made him write an apology letter to us and then write "I will not color on my sister" 10 times.  I'm saving that paper to show his future bride.  :-)

Does anyone know if there is a military school that offers Kindergarten? 

Getting ready to MOVE, in more ways than one.

Everyone is moving around here, including my baby girl, who took her FIRST STEPS today!  I sort of got photos, my 6 year old took some for me because Scott was on a conference call, but of course I can't find the camera cord.  Oh well.  I promise to post them soon.  :-)

We've been working on packing up kids toys today while Meg was at the inlaws'. I packed most of her stuff but left out all her little pet shop toys since that's what she plays the most. Brendan however insisted that ALL of his toys must be packed. We reminded him that we aren't moving for like 2 weeks, but I think he is worried that his toys won't make it if they don't get packed now LOL. I labeled Meg's boxes and he asked if he could label his. Sure, no problem, right? HA. One box says "Fuz buntons toys", one says "Booommmmmm's toys", one says "I love you" and the last one he just checked off every single room. (UHaul boxes come pre-labeled, you just check the room the box belongs in.) Should be interesting when the movers get here! 

We also took B to see "Alice in Wonderland" today while my inlaws watched the girls.  Pretty good movie, a little long but he stayed interested, so I know he liked it.  It didn't scare him either, which I was a little concerned about, but then again he's watched both Transformer movies about a hundred times.  However, the Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo scare him.  He has a thing with big scary animated fish I guess LOL. 

Well, got to go unload the dishwasher and throw some laundry in.  Man, I wish there was a laundry fairy.  I can never catch up!!  Everytime I think I am making some headway on the laundry pile, I find a stash of dirty clothes in one of the kids' rooms or something!  YIKES.

Change is a-comin'

After living on the face of the sun, er, I mean, Texas for 10 years, my husband and I are moving with our children and our 2 dogs and the bunny and the turtle back to our native Michigan.  We're homesick, and when the opportunity arose in his company to move him to the northern reigon, it was an easy decision.  Thus far it has also been a relatively easy move, comparitively.  We've moved a lot, for a variety of reasons and in various financial situations.  This time we're able to afford the things we need to help ease the stress of moving, such as movers who do some of the packing, and we've had well over a month to prepare.  For once, moving is not stressing me out or raising my blood pressure!  What a blessing!  I think part of it is the fact that this move is RIGHT for us.  Have you ever made a major decision and just knew, in your heart, that you were making the right choice?  That is how this one felt for us.  The educational system is better, there's no allergies, so my son won't need the nebulizer and his eczema should hopefully clear up not to mention the fact that he won't need 4 other meds to keep him healthy.  My baby girl has terrible allergies too and we've had to use the neb on her a few times plus she's on zyrtec already.  I won't miss THAT!  Then there's the wonderful summer weather (in comparison to the 100+ degrees here!), the fact that we still have a lot of friends up there, etc.  The list could go on and on.  There's some downsides too, mainly all the friends and family we're leaving here in Texas, but overall this is a really great move for us.

My favorite part is that we're going to live on a lake.  We found a house that is lakefront, much bigger than this house, just as nice, (even nicer in some aspects, like wood flooring instead of carpet), and cheaper than what we're paying now.  Can't beat that!  I can't wait to sit out on my deck looking out at the water.  That's been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember.

This weekend we're going to spend some time packing.  The dogs are going out to the trainer for the weekend, for grooming and to give us a break from at least 2 of the creatures in our house.  Plus, the puppy needs a bit more training.  I'm beginning to worry that he's going to start responding to "little fucker", since that's what my hubby calls him every time he [the puppy!] poops in the house.  Anyway, we're going to get one of those dumpster things from Lowes and work on cleaning stuff out, there's a lot of junk in the garage to get rid of that isn't even worthy of craigslist, a fallen tree in our backyard, some old lumber. . .  fun.  Going to get that all cleaned up, maybe pack the framed pictures on the walls, some of the kids' junk, etc.  Stuff we won't need for a few weeks.  The movers will be doing whatever packing we don't get done, so I don't have to bust ass and try to pack everything while taking care of 3 kids, but whatever we get packed ourselves will save us time and money when the movers arrive. 

Well, off to get ready to get going for the day.  The kids actually slept in quite a bit today, Meg didn't wake up until 7:45, Erin got up about 8:30, and Brendan didn't get up until 9.  It was nice not having to get up and rush, but my body still woke up by 7:30.  I remember wayyyyy back when I used to sleep until 9:30 or 10.  ahhhh those were the days!

My husband is completely geeked about being able to park the boat in the lake behind our house and just go out and fish in the mornings.  We're driving to Michigan, and the kids have DVDs to keep them entertained, I have my laptop with DVDs and my ipod, so I suggested that he download an audible book or something for his ipod to keep himself entertained on the trip, lest he get bored.  He said "bored?  I won't be bored!  My mind will be going over all the fishing trips I plan to do this summer!"  He's got an almost photographic mind and can remember each and every fish he ever caught in MI, where he caught it, what time of day etc.  I think we're going to spend most of the summer reliving our youths with our children.  I, for one, can't wait to take them to Ludington, where I spent many vacations with my mom and grandparents.  Happy times!