WOW!!!
Look at all the decorations!!! Thank you all for my birthday wishes and surprises. sorry it took me 2 days to get back here!!! I had a great time! Monday was the mall, haircut and a picnic with myself and butter pecan icecream. Then a dinner and presents with the kids. got hom,e late and fell into bed. Today was food shopping and an office party with chinese food and presents and good laughs. Then some seltzer water and a visit with the kids. Too full to eat another dinner with them. !!! got here late again and i really MUST get back on plan!!! I am blown up like a balloon!!! So all your good wishes for me really worked overtime!
Happy~ Thanks!!! Was so surprised to see you in the journals!!! I felt VERY honored!! Good luck wioth the movers yet?!?!?

Tig~ VERY HAPPY to see you drop in. Hope I wasn't a haunt!!! LOL
Nice to see the husband winning things while you are out there slaying dragons for a free t-shirt!!!! Good for both of you!!!

Teel~ thanks too and we are having an ice/snow storm that is ending and left roads closed due to so many accidents! Hope the leg heals quickly and the crutches get to stand in the corner. ZMaybe you cvan hang plants off them later on!
Any word from Linus????

Holly~ Thanks to you also and your son is adorable and I can tell how proud you are of him!!! Really nice pics! Thanks for sharing them!

Suzi~ You have outdone teel with the smileys!!! thank you too!! You are in my mind and heart often. sometimes I feel my life is being resurrected!!! LOLOLOL similar feelings from my past!
hang in there. It gets better! (((((HUGS))))) women lose their way because we forget how to be "ME". lost personalities. But have no fear......there are many to guide us when we get lost!

Nae~ Thank you for the wishes also. Hope the house cleaning and meeting go well. Hello to Teeka too!

I am not made to be a party animal anymore! Getting too old for the food and people!!! But it was a great 2 days. Back to the grindstone first thing in the morning and I can only hope that I don't **** red like Shad or I may get spooked too! Good morning Sunshine!!!

Meadow~ I must have scrolled too quickly and missed your post and graphic!!! YIKES! Thanks so much for the pic and the wish. Hope that Sarah is much better and is running and jumping around once more. Hope the house is going well also!

going to bed for sure this time!!!

Quiet old lot today aren't we? Where is Linus. I hope she is okay and that the family hasn't got to her too much. Her silence is very worrying. Teel, do you know anything??

Can't stay long myself tonight. Must get myself emotionally prepared for this interview tomorrow. Trying to work out what to wear. Problem is, I have sore feet. Don't know what has caused this, but it is bl**dy painful. I thought it was the tinea back but now I don't think it is. Aaah well, this too will pass. I will have to stay in the office tomorrow and not move around too much. I will have to walk in town tomorrow if I can't find a park close.

Mel - it sounds like you had a great birthday. Well done. What sort of pressies did you get??

So where is everyone else?????

Here I am.
I was wondering about Linus too!! Do pop in!!!

Shad~ hugs and positive energy coming across the hemispheres.

Toooooooo many thoughts to process.
I stayed up til midnight thinking and watching Idol to turn the brain off.

1 When I was at my Grandma’s on the weekend she smelled badly of urine. When she got up from under the hair dryer the seat was wet. My Mom ,Aunt and Sister( I need to come up with a name for this codependant 3some who share a brain) have been whispering about the smell etc for a while. I get defensive. The woman is 95. She is proud and maybe doesn’t realize the extent of it. So I have been thinking of a compassionate way of dealing with it on my own. The battleax brigade( ha, that’s it!)
are NOT kind about it.My idea is ( I do her laundry weekly), I will buy some panty liners and put it in with the laundry and out a note saying, I thought you might want to give these a try.
She is our very own Queen Mum.
I am open to feedback.

2 DH is still incredibly miserable. He has been stewing about what I said yesterday. he wont look at me. I still think it is hilarious.He hasn’t stomped his feet yet.
I did ask him how he would like if I went to his job site and harassed his co workers and then followed him around criticizing every little thing he said and did?End of story for me.
I took both kids with me to the school council meeting last night. Big kids play with them in the gym. it was okay but we didn’T get home til 9 which is an hour past bedtime .They had a lot of fun and were angels.

3 School Council Meeting- was great, BUT, we discussed at length the issues in the kindergarten class with parent bullying. Some names have come up and one couple I consider pretty good friends,awkward, and then the principal talked about the ringleader calling again yesterday accusing him of not being aware of the “bullies” and problem children in the school. The list included my son and some of his friends. He gave it as a example of how out to lunch this bunch is. I am mulling it over ,of course.
SO, Is my involvement in the administrative stuff at school going to have an adverse affect on my kids. Was he lumped in here because of me or was it coincidence????
I think I will call the principal and ask him this directly.
I want to help and make a difference and this issue is causing a HUGE amount of negativity in my daughters class but I dont want my actions to harm my kids.

4 I have been asked to write a draft of a parent handbook discussing “issues” and how to handle them,legal rights of kids,protocol, peaceful school initiatives.....
So now that is streaming through the old brain.

5 I am definitely getting my period.I have noticed the last couple of months that I feel anxious at the start of it.

I am burning out but I have known that since last weekend. I had a family cancel for today. I just have 2 toddlers til noon. My 2 are in school. i almost sent a note to voluteer this aft. Hello?? You need a break chicky. My hope is that DH doesn’t come home early.
I will take a bath for sure.
ReS and hockey. When he plays hockey it is the only time time in his life I have not seen him agitated or anxious. He is calm, peaceful and full of pure joy. I LOVE this for him. He even twitches and squirms when he sleeps.

March break starts this Friday. For next week I will have 6 kids for full days including my own. 2 others are off all week. I have a highschool girl coming for the mornings to do activities with them. I am taking them to the sugarbush for a day too. I think it will be a good week.

I need to eat. i am having trouble finding stuff to eat that appeals to me. Then I am hungry at night and eat carbs. I think I am too tired to out effort into it.
It has been mini wheats and fruit every moring for awhile.
Maybe I will scramble an egg.

Breathing.
__________________

I think I must have scared everyone else away!!
I got some more gift cards to stores, a veggie steamer, beautiful thin wool shawl/scarf, photography book, watercolor book, some tops, dvds (wish people would ask what I like first). a stuffed bunny and a bear to hang from my wchair and Richie and Jen gave me the water fountain and shoes and dvds. It felt more like another Christmas!!!
I really must behave in the food and water area today. I feel sooooo sluggish and a bit queasy I might add. Too many days with junk food. Well not junk but not the healthier foods I have been eating. I think the lack of water really did me in.

Shad~ sorry th hear about the feet. Did this happen before to you? Or am I thinking of someone else? Could it be the running? Hows the circulation? ((((HUGS))))) It will make it hard to go chasing after all those lads at work!!

Linus~ We are all sending you our love and bestest wishes for health and happiness.

Holly~ Posting together is becoming a routine with us. I got off here and found you had posted too! Hope you get to have the DH and the house settle down and get me time too! ((((HUGS)))))) good luck with the school stuff. Hope it doesn't affect the kids. That would be a shame. Fingers crossed!!!
Have a great day!

sorry folks for going missing , but this pregnancy is taking a whack from me not sleeping and being violently sick so i am so sorry for going missing and worrying you loads MEL so sorry for missing your birthday so i sent you a little something for missing your special day ,been on the phone to teel for 45 mins and now sister on so im gonna go and ill pop back later bye for now and bless you for worrying
kirsty

Just a real quickie before work. I will write more later.
Special thoughts to everyone today, Holly, Linus(hugs), Shad ...crossing fingers and toes!
Mel, drink drink drink until you are sloshing. I didn't think my post went through, everything froze...lol. I guess I broke the smiley-o-metre!
gotta fly...more later

HI chicks!!

Linus~ I was much more violently ill when I was pregnant with my daughter.hmmmmm!

Girls names..... ????? hmmmmmmmmm

I have been Dr. Mom all week and counting. I have both kids on antibiotics now! Sarah is back at school but not full steam energy wise. Told her teacher today she didn't like school, too boring little knock for his ego Emily isn't drinking or eating and hates the taste of the amoxil. I plan on getting some grape koolaide to add to it in the hopes that she will down her three teaspoons a day. Incredible how she can linger over a teaspoon of liquid, she only took a half dose tonight as it was making her gag. Emily has swollen glands and a high temperature that isn't coming down, so I'm very worried about her. She is just sleeping and her eyes look all sick.

Best of luck tomorrow at the interview Shad, hope it is interesting for you. Might be fun for you to take the government and reorganize them

Holly-you sound swamped by swirling drama! Do remember to take your vitamins and only worry about the stuff you have control over. Other people's reactions aren't your concern, only your own choices. Keep your cool next week when the spring break kids are everywhere.

Mel- How decorated is your chair if you are hanging stuffed animals off of it? do you have colourful flashy reflector things for the wheels? Trying to picture it here I read about a new suppliment called "Celadrin" that is supposed to be very helpful for inflammation it comes in a cream and in pill form. A type of fish oil derivative. They have a website celadrin.com, that medical journalist Lorna Vanderhaeghe is an advocate of it.

Linus-eat some crackers or something light and nibble on them all day... you need to have a little something in your tummy to stop the swirling. I'm sorry the little bundle down bellow is being such an irascible companion, tell her to cool it Pickles and strawberries appeal? Make sure you drink lots to stay hydrated if you are upchucking alot. Going to make you all dizzy if those electrolytes get messed up.

Suzi-How are you doing? Are you feeling lost in the wife and mother go round? I must say I know that feeling. If it weren't for the internet I think I would be insane. I get to talk to people, adult folks online and discuss stuff I'm interested in. I actually found myself again once I started surfing around this electronic medium. Funny old world isn't it

Rose-Hi there! A big meeting equals a big cleaning frenzy at yours? Stress and company, couldn't you have them outdoors and just clean the bathroom? I hope it goes well

Hiya all,

Linus, how good to see you back. I was getting to the point where I was about to check times and pick up the phone and ring Teel first, then you. Thanks for the ultrasound pic, I looked at it, turned myself upside down and looked again, looked sideways, down, up and every point of the compass - how the h*ll do they tell whether it is a boy or girl? Hope that morning sickness wears off real soon. Meadow was suggesting crackers - it's not a bad idea. My mother swore by ginger biscuits in all her pregnancies (4). I went for crackers and apple juice but didn't have much problem anyway.

Meadow, how horrible for you to have both littlies so sick. I really hope they come right really soon.

Holly, my Mum became incontinent in her last years. She hated the panty liners but wore them anyway - probably because she forgot what she was whinging about anyway. You can only suggest to Gran to try them. Maybe a hint about special deodorant or something. She probably realises that she has a problem but doesn't know what to do about it. Try to ensure that she goes to the loo frequently - or get the staff to do it for you. She may just be leaving things that little bit too late and while not actually wetting herself is experiencing leakage because the muscles are not what they used to be. A little jog of the memory may be all that is needed. She may also be losing the sense of smell. That never helps and is more common than realised.

Geez Mel, you did well for yourself with the birthday pressies. Well done. Lots of rest and water and a bit of exercise, you'll have it all back together in no time.

Went for the interview this afternoon. Nothing spectacular that I couldn't answer and a few tricky ones that they thought off. We had a bit of a giggle from time to time and I told an accountant about primary and secondary costs. He was surprised that I knew. I didn't bother to tell him that another accountant some years back very patiently explained to this dummy who still doesn't understand but knows the right words. We shall see what happens - like I said que sera, sera. I'm not too worried either way. Working in the centre of the city would be pretty horrible but I guess I can put up with it and find ways around it if I get the job. It is not far from the city botanical gardens and that might be a nice lunchtime walk.

It's raining and storming over here. Summer is going out with a bang it seems, but it is cooling down rapidly particularly at night - hallelujah sleep blessed sleep. I actually had to put a cotton throw on the bed last night.

Okay, I'm off, time to do the dishes, clear out this darned bookcase and chuck some of the books and dust and sweep down behind it. Such is life. Be seeing you.

DH thought is was Friday...wishful thinking. Then we could have a short sleep and get up at 6:30 for the last official hockey game on Saturday. ROFL!!!!!!
I have worked out a lot of the mumbo jumbo. I feel great about it!!!!
I will discreetly give the Depends liners( not the whole garment, too much too fast) to Grandma with her laundry. She woulld NEVER ask. The BXB(battleaxe brigade) does her shopping.
Shad~MY Grandma lives in her own home.Her sense of smell and hearing are the pits. I am sure she knows whats up,though. Nothing wrong with her noodle.I am the closest to her.
She will try the liners if they are there.

I called the principal and he was so supportive and kind and said he backs up me and the work I am doing 100%.
The trouble making parent commented to the principal that DS was part of a group of bullies. It was malicious, but i was wondering if it was a reaction to me being on school council. The principal and I had a great talk about it. He made me feel that I am valued and the project I am working on is more important than pettiness and that the people who matter, him, teachers involved parents know it for what it is.
I wrote out a very rough first draft of the parent guide. It has gone out to council members to edit and input. I will send it to the kindergaten teacher and principal for thier input too.
I do believe in what i am doing and it is what I excell at. It feels FANTASTIC to be heading this project.
DH came home from work and was gentler.He spoke without barking and was very quiet and subdued. On the way to TOPS i got teary over a song on the radio. I realized i was relieved that DH had let the anger go.
I heard Kalan on an American radio show!
I stayed up late again. Then DH woke coughing at 2:30. I asked if he was okay. He said he just coughed his lungs out ,very sarcastically. I replied, Boy that would really hurt ,in a sweet voice. Gawd, I crack me up.I still laugh every time I think about calling him a barking maniac.
DS crawled in a 2:45. A few minutes later DD cried oiut. I went and layed with her.Then came back to cuddle with DS. It was a short, chopped up night.
I have had a coffee and ww bagel.
Not a busy day. 3 toddlers and DD.
Need to do some stretches.
I was down at TOPS.
Meadow~ so sorry about the sick girls. It is such a worry. You could try meds in applesauce too. Should we get some hockey cards attached with clothes peg for Mel's spokes?
How is everyone today?

Wow....can you hear the sigh of relief escaping from my lungs!!!!! The meeting went just fine....but the excelerated cleaning before hand was insane. My presidency is completed and now just have to finish up with some paperwork.
So ladies you always heard about me going to the girls high school hockey games...well....little town of Salmon won the state title beating all those super big towns....did I already tell you? I can't remember anyway it is so cool.....
My mom got an engagement ring on Valentine's day and they married on the next friday of the same week....how sweet is that....she is 77 he is 69 and they are adorable. I am so happy for them...they will be coming back to montana the first part of april....
Last weekend when I went to montana I saw some good girlfriends and had some laughs and tears too..... my brother is recovering from his accident but is unable to work so he is soooo upset.... his little hovel was still clean and he even let me in to visit.... my brohter is sort of like a homeless guy with shelter but my cuz and sis really fixed up his little place.....very cool.
Oh Ladies sometimes the tradegy in people lives they don't deserve....my friends daughter at 20 is serving time 3-5 for meth....the demon drug of our time.... we as a society and world will be paying for that for the rest of our lives for all the youth it is screwing up......so sad..... preach your brains out to your children.... it is so evil.
I brought home tons of good books to read from my friends.... so good for my brain. Mel you had a great birthday it seems you deserve it girl..... how are you feeling getting back on the routine.... I will try to stay connected better now that things are going in a slower direction.
Linus I do hope that you get to feeling better the suggestion that Shad had about the ginger biscuits is probably a good one...ginger is very good. Hang in there we are all here cheering you on for a good healthy baby. How goes the war with the lads??????? neverending for me too!
Holly you are doing some good things and so busy..... try to take some time for yourself too.
Teel I hope you are on the mend too. How's the ankle coming along.... you need some nice ultrasound and touch from Nae's hands for the ankle. Hope you get to feeling better.
Happy the house and yard sound great....I can't believe you are missing stuff from the moving people....that is soooo bad but some louding barking should help to make it right, I hope.
Meadow I hope the kids get to feeling better.... some bad colds and cough going around this year all over the world... how are you holding up?
Suzi nice to hear from you from down under how is everything in your world? I miss australia sometimes so I just get out my pics and have a look.
Tig? what is the next pavement pounder you are setting your sites on?
Shad, I hope you get the job you want..... I think you have a good attitude to wait to and see..... how are your lads doing these days? Your garden sounds so great..... I may be getting some of your advice this year on a few things.......
Well ladies it is so nice to sit and chat a moment or two with you.... thanks for you support and prayers.... I could feel them and it truly helped to get me through the last weeks..... and if you can believe it I am exercising too!!!!!!
Peace,
Nae

This was asked about in the Journals...thought I would share.

Why My Darling Dear Husband Is Such a Grump
These are the tangible reason.
I will qualify this by saying that I understand this. It is HARD to deal with.He does try VERY hard to keep it in check.

In 1994 he fell from scaffolding on top of a metal post, pierced a couple of organs and injured his back. He recovered very well. He has chronic back pain. He uses prevenative things every day like hanging on an invertor board, going for aligments, hot baths, a massage.....
He had worked as a licenced carpenter for 25 years in new home construction and renos. He is talented and loves it.
When I met him he took winters off.
He works outside, up on top of buildings all winter in ALL weather unless it it colder than -30 C( about -25F). It takes an incredible amount of your body’s energy to do this for 9 hours a day.
Since we have had children and made the lifestyle and parenting choices we have, there is no choice for him but to work year round. Before kids. He laid on the couch or floor every night after supper til 9pm and then went to bed. Now he reads stories and plays, and does the bedtime stuff.
He is completely exhausted and in pain every day.
He copes pretty well for Nov/Dec and by the end of Jan he starts to fade. Feb just plain SUCKS for all of us.
He is starting to feel hopeful about spring.
He was quite sick this week. It was a last straw for him. He caved.

I actually have learned more compassion for him from knowing Mel, Linus and Teel from 3fc.
The other 3/4 of the year are pretty darn wonderful.

Linus~ just take care of yourself and don't worry about the challenge and posting! We should all be able to lose weight and stay on track when you are ill! Big grls now we are! no pun intended! Hope you feel better Luv!

Shad~ Had a giggle about your interview and cracked up at the answers! good luck! just think how many new pictures you could take and add to webshots!!! ;lol3: (((((HUGS)))))

Nae~ It was great to see you again and great news about MOM!!!! Congrats to her and the new DH! Hope the brother stays well and warm! Sorry to hear about that girl!
Glad the meeting and cleaning went well and take good care of YOU too!

Holly~ Good luck with the school nd hope the hubby situation calms down over the weekend. Take care of yourself while all this is going on! Bumps in the road of life sometimes cannot be avoided as you have learned already in the past. Screw anyone that doesn't understand!

Meadow~ I am so sorry the kids are sick and hope they get better fast! Hope you don't get any of it and that the new home is progressing much smoother too! I will look into the website and thanks! This weekend I will try senna tea. The lemon didn't really work and only gave me heartburn and a queasy stomach but then I remembered I had tried this a hear ago on Shad's suggestion! I even found it in my written journal!

Tired and tired! Busy day and very cold. I am about out of heat within my own body! Pleas Spring find NJ!!! I have no points yet this week but haven't been too bad off track. I think an early bed is a great idea for tonite and maybe 15 minutes of handheld solitaire! Hope your Friday is a great one! Good Morning Sunshine!!