30 Days of Truth: Day 3

Day 3-Something you have to forgive yourself for.

There's plenty of those but most of all I think I need to forgive myself for an inappropriate relationship back in my single days. I was, um, a little reckless and threw good sense out the window in that one. I plead temporary insanity. I would certainly take it back now if I could. I do, however, think that it shaped me and has helped me to be a better wife and partner now. I would love to forgive it and forget it, and never, ever, ever think about it again. It actually makes me sick to my stomach when I think about it too much.

So, on that note...

Rookie Move

We have planned #2's birthday party for tonight.

Not a rookie move: Only allowing him to invite 4 kids to a sleepover.

Rookie move: Not getting the phone numbers of the kids that he did invite.

Inevitable: Not having the phone numbers insures that your (read: MY) kid will get sick and you'll need to cancel the party.

Rookie.

Quick Favor Friday!

Hey gang... I need a quick favor from all of you...

My daughter is taking a survey for her psych class in college. Would you all mind taking a few minutes to answer her questions? It really only takes a few minutes and she needs a pretty large sample.

Go here to take the survey.

Thanks! You are all beautiful and wonderful, and My! Doesn't your hair look fantastic today?!

How do you jump back in?

I read this over at Free Fringes today and boy did she hit the nail on the head:

My brain goes in these circles that won’t allow to me write on my blog without feeling guilty about not writing on yours, then I’m paralyzed and write on neither one.

I'm so there. I have so much to say but yet nothing at all, and yet here I sit telling you about the nothing that I have to say. See Ericka? You're not alone.

So last weekend my parents came in. They are the coolest, most generous, nice, helpful, supportive people in all of the world and I'm so lucky that I get to call them Mom and Dad. There is nothing that you can tell me about your parents that will top mine, so don't even try.

They got to have a birthday dinner with my girl on Friday...Did you hear? She turned 20 last week. I'm no longer the mother of a teenager. How does that happen? I mean besides the passing and time and all. Ten-Twenty-TwentyTen. Yep. She's pretty amazing.

Then on Saturday they got to see #2 play football. A 13-0 win against a previously undefeated team. Go Saints! Then after a little rest we were off to #1's baseball game. (Unfortunately, that game was called for darkness when the lights wouldn't come on.)

#2's actual 9th birthday was on Sunday and we were able to hang out and have fun despite the rainy weather. The Red Ryder was quite the hit.

HB#1 and HB#2 during target practice.

In between all of that I cooked and baked a lot, we shopped A LOT, (Seriously? In Target twice in 2 days? What's up with that?) I got a really cute sweater out of the deal though, so, Thanks, Mom!

The worst part was that by Saturday night my Dad had picked up a cold and felt awful. Somehow, we always seem to get him sick when he visits. Anyone have a pill to prevent that? Sorry Dad!

As usual it was a great visit and not long enough! Thanks Mom and Dad for everything. You're amazing!

So that's the update in a nutshell. Now I just have to figure out how to do NaBloPoMo!

Wordless Wednesday

Now you know what Headless Dad really looks like. Heh.

No,

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. It's birthday week around here and my parents are here from Colorado. Busy, busy, busy!!!!!!

Have a good weekend. I know I will! And I'll be back soon to tell you all about it all!

Fire Drill

I was awakened at 4 am on Wednesday morning by Boy #1 at my bedside complaining of a stomach ache. In my haze I rushed him into the bathroom thinking that we were going to have a second sighting of dinner. We didn't thankfully, but he was in our bed for the remainder of the sleeping hours.
When the time came for us to leave for school I had convinced him to give school a shot. His class was doing a project that I had planned on going in to help with and promised him we could come home if he still didn't feel well.

I joined the class about 30 minutes later and listened to the instructions for their project. #1 seemed fine, if a little tired until I got a little closer to him. He was scratching at his neck, and not suspecting anything, I glanced at his neck. He had a rash that he thought was bug bites. Um, that would be no. A bright red rash was all over his torso in addition to his neck, and what I didn't know then was that it was creeping downward into his groin area as well.

As soon as he had finished his project we left the school and called the doctor. I called Headless Dad to let him know what was up and he was the one that remembered what we had for dinner the night before: shrimp and scallops. While we've had shrimp before, we don't typically have scallops and they were mixed in with the pasta. #1 didn't eat any but apparently the damage was done. Thank goodness he didn't actually eat them!

A dose of Benadryl and an hour later we were in the doctor's office, (God, I love our pediatrician!), left with a prescription for prednizone and an epi-pen, and then off to get a blood allergy panel. Of course, that didn't go well either, with him getting dizzy and pale after they took his blood.

Amazingly, that was the worst of it. (Unless you count the sticker shock of the epi-pen. Holy cow! I knew they were expensive, but even with insurance it was waaay more than I expected.) #1 felt better through the evening and was completely clear by the next morning. While we're still waiting on the allergy panel and then the referral to the allergist, we're fairly certain that it was only the scallops, which are pretty easy to avoid.

One mistake I made in all of this was to tell him more than he could handle. He's a smart kid, and I thought that he would be able to understand everything. Oops. By bedtime he was in tears thinking that he was going to die or something. While, yes, food allergies can be scary and dangerous, we are lucky to have good insurance, a fantastic doctor, and I have good friends that I can call on with questions when we get all of the tests back. I will be diligent, yes, but no, it's not the end of the world. Millions of people live with food allergies every day and if it's more or worse than what I suspect then we'll deal with it.

The prednizone though? It's of the devil.

Behind

On Wednesday we had a food allergy scare and, as the saying goes, I'm so far behind I'll never catch up.

Laundry
Cleaning
Birthday week next week, haven't shopped
Parents coming in town
Ironing

You know the drill....

However. After I get a bunch of this stuff done I plan on getting back here to tell you about that food allergy scare and a few other things like how awesome Headless Dad is. Seriously, I couldn't have gotten through this week without him.

Meanwhile, check out what I've been up to around the ole interwebs:

I Love... over at Inland Empire Family. Ironically, I wrote this mere hours before my week blew up.

and I guest posted over at The Big Toy Book about birthday season... Uh, that would be fall if you weren't sure.

OK, well, see you soon! Happy Friday!

30 Days of Truth: Day 2

Day 2: Something you love about yourself

I'm not sure whether this is going to be easier or harder than yesterday. Rather than talk about one thing I'm going to make a list. It's nice to have a number of things in this category, right? (To refer to on the low days!)

• I love my arms, shoulders, upper back and decolletage, as well as my legs. These 2 areas are by far my best physical features.
• I actually love my eyes, too.
• I think that I'm a supportive friend.
• I love that I can keep a secret better than almost anyone I know.
• I love that I am good at keeping our family finances in order.
• I love that I am organized most of the time.
• I love that I can usually find great bargains when shopping for my family and I'm not bothered by things like brand-names and trying to keep up with the Jones'.

OK, that's enough love for today. What do you love about yourself?

30 Days of Truth: Day 1

If you haven't see this around the web then you either don't read many blogs or live under a rock. There are a ton of bloggers doing it and I have no idea where or who started it. The gist is that there are 30 prompts for writing, truthfully, about yourself. Day 1 is "something you hate about yourself." Since I've been in a blogging rut lately (no, really!) I thought that I'd start. Whether I finish is another story all together.

What I hate about myself:

Long ago, as a teen, I realized a few things about my genes. One, my hair would be more gray earlier than my peers thanks to my father that had salt and pepper hair as far back as I can remember. Two, that I would always have issues with my teeth, thanks again to my father. (Love ya, Daddy!) And three, that I would never, ever, EVER have a flat stomach.

I have always wanted a flat, bikini-wearing-worthy tummy, but it is and never has been in the cards, or genes, for me. I hated that even in high school and college at my thinnest and most fit I always had a small pooch under my belly button. After I had two children, (huge children, I might add,) it has only gotten worse.

Granted, I got 2 awesome boys out of that, and 3 kids total out of the deal, but still.

Jillian's fab abs

Jillian Michaels? Now there are some perfect abs. Look- all the way down to the 'waist' line of her shorts. Flat. Or at least small and worthy of being bare. The thing that I hate most though is that while I "know" that my genes are not in my favor, and I have other features that are awesome, I still hate my tummy. I obsess over it. I camoflauge it when I can, and 'spanx' it when I can't. The part I hate most though is that I know I could do more to be 'closer' to that ideal and I'm too lazy to do it. Yes, I exercise. You all know I do. But the extra ab work, and changing up the cardio, and everything that could give me those abs? Nope. Not willing to do it.

And I think that that's what I hate the most is that I know what could fix the problem and won't do it.

Ok, so you don't know either.

A couple of days ago I asked you all if you knew what I missed.

Fortunately for my bank account, none of you knew. Unfortunately for me and my PMSing brain, that means that wahhhh, no one knows or cares! (Yeah, I know it's pathetic. And potentially, completely untrue, but I said PMS. Go with it. For the sake of the hormones, people.)

I missed my blogaversary. October 1. This blog is now 3 years old, and I'm throwing a tantrum. Well, in my head anyway.

This is how it's been: husband working overtime for about a month now, kids are tired. I'm fried, PMSing, have a headache, and have so much housework to do that I'm not sure I'll ever catch up. (Is that phrase even compatible with being a mom?)

After being witness to some of the blog drama today, (and intentionally not commenting on any of it,) I'm questioning a lot of what goes on in the blogworld, where my blog fits in and exactly how I feel about all of it. Not a new question, for sure, but one that I fretted all day about. (And no, that doesn't mean that I'm contemplating quitting.) I may or may not ever comment publicly on it, but suffice to say, if I decide to get off my lazy butt you might see some of the fruits of my contemplation.

Sidenote: Rain in California is not unusual, people.  Quit acting like it's the end of the world. Believe me, you'll have plenty to complain about when it's 90 degrees in January. Unbelievable. OK, so you're cold. Put on some real shoes and a jacket.

So that's where I am. Where are you this week?

Missed it

Does anyone know what I missed this week?

I'm trying to come up with a prize for the winner.  I'll make it a minimum $25 value. One entry per person in the comments, just to make it fair.

Go ahead. Make a guess. Doesn't hurt to try, right?

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my good friend Debby of Just Breathe. She has been a loyal friend for over a decade. She is a blessing to me in my real life as well an my online life.

Headless Mom and Just Breathe

Deb, I hope you have a spectacular day!

Love you lots,

HM

PS- Where are we going to lunch on Tuesday?

PPS- If you're reading this and you're not Debby, go on over and wish her a great day!

PPPS- I wrote this before I saw what she wrote on her blog about her day with her family. I swear.