Another attempt at finding the time....

I have to truely say that I love to blog but just don't find the time. I have a list of blog posts ideas running in my head (and on my Iphone) constantly. I struggle day in and day out with justifying writing this blog (nobody follows it but it is VERY theraputic for me) verses sitting at my laptop and trying to find a job. After my last therapy session and my declaration that I love to write... I was given the assignment by my therapist to get back to blogging on a weekly basis for my own mental health and creative outlet. So here I sit and type and try to get back into the groove.

I have decided that I need to find a certain day each week to dedicate to the blog (& my sanity). It would be kinda like homework for me.

Ever Hear of Fifth Disease? I hadn't either

Apparently Fifth Disease is considered a common childhood illness. It's cousins are measles, chicken pox and the mumps. It's a.k.a is Slapped Cheek Syndrome. From what I have been told, it's very, very common. I had never in my life heard of it. I must be living under a rock.

In early March Princess woke up with bright red Raggedy Ann cheeks. We kept on asking if she felt okay. She kept giving us the thumbs up that she was doing great. A few days into the bright red checks, a lace-like rash started all over her body. Against the wishes of my pediatrician, I went to the resource every mom finds reliable.. the Internet. My 'Mom' diagnosis came up with Fifth Disease. Off to the doctor I took Princess to confirm my ,which was correct. The doctor said that in a few days, Princess' cheeks and rash would clear up. As he was walking out the door, he looked over his shoulder and said that if adults get Fifths they can have chronic joint pain for up to a month. Oh okay,I respond, not thinking about it much.

Flash forward to the middle of May.... Dear Husband and I both got Fifths in the middle of March and I don't wish it on my worst enemy. It was the sickest I have ever been. Apparently it affects adults much worse and differently than kids. And... apparently the joint pain is worse for women. Let me just go on record and state that I can sympathize with every older person that suffers from arthritis. I never understood the pain, I do now. I am now 2 months into the 'joint pain' and it is awful. Though I am told it will eventually go away, I still struggle every day with the pain in my knees and hands.

The moral to this story is... if you too are living under a rock and have never heard of Fifth Disease... stay away from anyone with bright red checks.

Becoming a Backyardigan

I started this blog entry shortly before taking a break from the blog. I had saved it in my 'drafts' and think it is so cute, so here I share it now.....

Today (1/18/10) was raining cats and dogs and we took the kids to Barnes & Nobles this afternoon. They were told on the whole ride to the bookstore that they were not buying anything and only Daddy was buying something. We would "look" at the kids section though. Bad Idea!

I left Dear Husband, Princess, and Pirate in the kid's section while I went to the complete other side of the store to check on a book. The next thing I hear is Pirate screaming. (Only a mother can recognize her own child's primal scream.) I immediately head back to the other side of the store to see what could possibly be causing Pirate to have a fit. My sweet little Pirate LOVES the Backyardigans! I truly mean LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! He found every stuffed Backyardigan and had them all bundled in his arms. (There's 5 in case your not familiar: Pablo, Tasha, Uniqua, Austin, Tyrone). Dear Husband was in the process of telling Pirate that we were not buying any of them which was throwing Pirate into a panic.

Call me a softie for the little creatures (the Backyardigans, not the kids) It is very, very hard to ever find any toys that have the Backyardigans on them. We seemed to be behind the times a bit. The Backyardigans were the HOT thing a few years back. Not now, which is why it is hard to find merchandise with them on it. This was my rational when Pirate headed to the cashier at Barnes & Nobles with his arms overflowing with each Backyardigan (Ya can't just by one, they are a team!) $50.00 later we were in the car with the crew to introduce them to their new home.

Reflections at Forty

Yesterday was my 40th birthday and I had a great day. No complaints. So far, so good. I did reflect a bit on my life in between all the festivities. I decided I am exactly where I want to be in my life, minus a great career that I am passionate about. This is what brings me back to blogging.

I took several months off from blogging for a multitude of reasons. Life can, at times, get away from you. During my time away, I missed blogging but just couldn't justify the time to commit to it. During a conversation with Dear Husband this past weekend and my birthday reflection yesterday, I am going to try to commit to it again. I truly miss the creative writing that blogging allowed me. I love to write and blogging gave me the outlet to write, aside from the 'power letters' I sometimes have to compose to absentee landlords regarding their tenant, our neighbor. Or the letters I have to send to our city government about the lack of 'call to action' when it comes to an abandoned car on our street.

People say "do what you love, the money will follow". I have been thinking about that a lot lately. I want my 40's to be different that my 30's. I know, I can't complain too much. The 30's brought me a new marriage and two great kids. We have a house that we can all our 'home' and though I was laid-off a year ago, we aren't in bad shape like many Americans. (Yes, I did count my blessings yesterday too). I want my 40's to bring me the career that doesn't feel like a career. Something that is an extension of myself, that I love to do. Maybe writing, maybe photography, who knows...but I am on the quest to make my 40's be all they can be.

Over the hills and thru the woods, puking all the way...

Well, that's how this story begins. This has been the week of Dear Husband's major back surgery and what a week it's been. This will be a trilogy blog entry since there are several stories to tell.

We chose a doctor from Napa. The closest hospital, to our home, that the surgery could be done at, was St. Helena Hospital. We had to go over to the hospital on Thursday for a pre-op appointment to make sure Dear Husband was healthy enough to go under the knife. An EKG, blood tests, urine test, etc. were planned. We decided to take Pirate with us, since we didn't have childcare for him. We traveled over Mark West Springs Rd and Pirate began to complain about being hot. Ah oh! He has a history of getting carsick, so panic began. We did all we could to prevent the vomit. We made it down the hill and onto Hwy 29, headed toward St. Helena. I, of course, opened my big mouth and said, "whew.. he didn't puke. That was a close call" Not 30 seconds after the statement came out of my mouth, Pirate puked and puked all over himself, the car seat, and the back of the driver's seat. It was 8:30 in the morning. We had no change of clothes or towels. (I know, we should know better. Shame on us)

After trying to clean Pirate's face with a baby wipe on the shoulder of the road, while commute traffic whizzing by... we headed on. We knew that Pirate couldn't enter the actual hospital since the H1N1 issue is going on. No children under the age of 16 allowed in the hospital. We were told that Pirate could come to the Pre-Admissions Office though. We arrived and parked the car. We took Pirate's shirt off and put on his sweatshirt that avoided to the puke. Into the building we go with our smelly little boy, who was being such a BIG BOY! (we were so proud of him) I had Dear Husband go up to the 3rd floor, just to be sure Pirate was still invited. Nope! We rec'd miss information. Him and I had to sit in the waiting room chairs at the entrance of the hospital while Dear Husband went ahead with his appointment.

What was I going to do to entertain a 2-year old covered in vomit for an hour? I pulled out my secret 'bag of tricks'... aka 'my purse' and started letting Pirate play with anything that occupied him. Our hour wait for Dear Husband flew by and before I knew it, Dear Husband was coming down in the elevator to meet up with us.

I must have had my guardian angel sitting on my shoulder or my little Pirate turned into an angel for an hour. Whatever it was, I am eternally grateful.

If you can't go Organic, at least try this

I don't think most family and friends realize that our house went "Organic' shortly after Pirate's birth. We only buy organic milk. It is very expensive but we decided that certain things that the kids eat and drink all the time, we would commit to buying organic. This also includes juice, crackers and snacks, and fruits and veggies. It doesn't mean that we don't feed them junk food or processed food because we do that too! Since the kids don't really eat any meat, we haven't committed to organic meat just yet. It is great that Costco and other retailers are really beginning to offer the organic variety now. Since we can't always buy organic fruits and veggies, I have found a fabulous recipe for fruit and veggie cleaner to counteract all the chemicals that is sprayed on our produce before it makes it into our homes.

Here's the list of the "Dirty Dozen". The 12 produce items that you should buy organic. We aren't always that good in our house. Depending on finances, hot sale items, and the store we are at determines if it's organic or not.

http://www.greenthinkers.org/blog/2006/06/organic_dirty_dozen.html

I do clean all our fruit and veggies with the following. I got the recipe from the book, Gorgeously Green by Sophie Uliano. My luck, I will get hit with some copyright crime for reprinting it but it was posted on Oprah's website too!

Ingredients:

1 cup of water

1 cup distilled white vinegar

1 Tbsp. baking soda

20 drops of grapefruit seed extract (available at local health food store)

Combine all ingredients in a large container. Then transfer to a spray bottle with a pump. (Don't mix ingredients right in spray bottle. You will have a science experiment, just like you did in the 5th grade - trust me)

Spray on produce and rinse thoroughly after 5 to 10 minutes.

Just much to do, too little time

I have to admit that the blog has been the least of my priorities as of lately and my biggest guilt. I love to write this blog, I just haven't found the time. I go to bed each night with such guilt that I didn't have the time to add a new entry. I have been too busy catching cats, dealing with plumbers, wrangling a two year old and negotiating outfits with Princess. Then there is Christmas and Dear Husband's back surgery next week. I think my plate is full and spilling over. Oh, and because Dear Husband and my therapist told me I need to start going to the gym to burn off some stress, I am on my 5th week of my 9-week running program. It's kicking my butt yet the butt isn't disappearing.

Though we have been scrambling around trying to get all our Christmas shopping done before the surgery (Dec. 18th), I haven't grasped the holiday spirit just yet. As we get closer to the surgery, I am beginning to get stressed about the severity of the surgery along with the responsibilities that fall on me as of Dec. 18th. I am going to temporarily become a single mom with two small kids and a husband that is useless for the unforeseen future, while he recovers.

I need to find and bring the holiday cheer into our house along with playing Santa Claus on the 24th. You can call me bah-humbug but I did veto a big tree this year. Could you imagine me dealing with the two kids, husband is upstairs in bed after surgery and the two darn indoor cats have knocked over the tree ? (its a guarantee they would to) I had to make the tough decision to go without this year. We have an itty-bitty tree that I will put out instead. When the cats knock it over, at least I will be able to pick it up myself and I won't have water leaking into our laminate flooring.