Going Natural

So, I've been slowly changing some of my personal items over from quick-and-easy-and-cheap to a more natural product.

The first thing I changed was my toothpaste.  I have gingivitis.  There.  I've said it.  The reason why is simple: I hate flossing.  I have a permanent wire retainer on my bottom teeth.  It's a pain in the butt to floss around it, so I don't.  My dentist scolds me.  My periodontist scolds me.  My hygienist scolds me.  Heck, even my mom scolds me!  But do I listen, or care?  NO!  Why?  Because it HURTS!

So, when I found out about these tooth chips by Rose of Sharon Acres, I decided to try them.  Now, they are a little pricier than normal toothpaste.  BUT, you get a lot in the 4 oz tin.  I also ordered some tooth powder.  The blurb on the website said it would "Brighten your smile" but upon reading the label, it also helps fight gingivitis.  Win. Win!

I've been using the tooth chips instead of toothpaste for about 2 weeks.  I don't want to sound like I know much of anything about teeth, but my gums are already feeling better.  I am not sure if I've mentioned it here before or not, but in December of 2009 I had gum replacement surgery.  I was 25.  Not something you'd think a 25-year-old would be having done.  I had the gums along my 4 lower/front teeth replaced.  It was painful.  I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  I have been going back every 3 weeks-6 months ever since.  I went a few weeks ago, and I don't have to go back for another year.  It's finally starting to be where the periodontist wants it to be.

But my good news?  I checked today, and the spot isn't as red and inflamed as it normally is.  I can't say it's because I've been flossing, because I haven't.  It has to be partly due to the fact that I am using an all-natural item to brush my teeth.  And it rocks.

I'm going to make another confession here.  I have acne.  I have always had acne.  It sucks.  I've dealt with it.  I've moved on.  Except that it keeps coming back.  I am at the end of my rope as to what to do with it.  I've tried Nuetrogena, Pond's, Biore, Clearasil, Stridex, etc, but nothing seemed to really work totally.

I decided it was time for a change.  I needed something that was actually going to work.  About a year ago, I had a sample of Bert's Bees new facial care line.  It was fabulous.  I loved it.  Until it got dumped into the tub by Marshy (did I mention it was open at the time?).  So, when i went to the store tonight, i looked for a new product in the Bert's Bees line that I could use.

Instead of finding just 1 item, i bought 4.  The cleanser, the scrub, the toner, and the moisturizer.  I have oodles of samples of the spot treatment at home, so I din't bother buying those as well.

I just washed my face with the stuff and it feels amazing.  I just hope I can remember to wash at AM and PM!

The moisturizer was the most expensive of the bunch, at $16.  Everything else was around $8.  Woohoo! Good prices for sure.

What are you doing to go natural, or green, or whatever?  I would love to hear about it! :)

It's Sickmastime, not Christmastime

I am seriously feeling worse by the day.  We have been plagued by sickness after sickness at our house, and of course, I'm the one that has gotten EVERYTHING.

Marshy had pink eye the week before Thanksgiving. Luckily, it got better in time to go celebrate with everyone.

Mike got the flu the day after Thanksgiving.  Stupid man lucked out and it only lasted for a few hours. He was better by the end of the day.

I had had a cold for most of November. By the Monday before Thanksgiving, the cough I had was killing me, so I went to the doctor and got a prescription for a codeine cough syrup. It really helped after a few days, and I was feeling better by Thanksgiving.

The weekend after Thanksgiving I developed strep. Yeah. So not fun! Went to the ER late Saturday night, got a whole bunch of prescriptions, and went home to rest.  By the following Wednesday, I was starting to feel a little better.

Then, on Friday, I had some killer sinus pain that had moved down into my teeth and my jaw.  Back to the doctor I went, and this time I got a few new prescriptions.  I know, right?  

Again, I was starting to feel a little better.....until this morning when I woke up and couldn't open my left eye.  Yep! That's right!  A whole week later, I have now developed pink eye.

I swear, if I get one more thing this year, I am going to scream!  I am too busy to be home sick!! 

I'm really hoping that I get over this newest thing sooner rather than later. I'm already so behind at work, it isn't even funny.

Bad Things Come in 3's

I don't know who said it, but whoever said it deserves to be shot.

"Bad things come in 3's" 

Yeah, let's see how many bad things we can have happen to us.  Why not say "Bad things come in 1's", huh?  That would be so much better!

And, actually, now that I think about it, for me, at least, bad things have come in 4's lately.

First there is my car:  I need a new muffler.  Never mind that I replaced it 2 years ago.  And that the one I replaced was the FACTORY muffler that was was 12 years old.  Don't you think the new muffler should have lasted more than, oh, 2 years?  Yeah.  Me too.

Then there is my computer:  I've had issues with the corner of the screen case and the hinge for about a year.  The screw that holds the case together was stripped, so it's been missing for a while.  The hinge has slowly been breaking.  But I have't had any trouble with it for months, so I didn't worry too much.  Besides, I don't have "droppage" coverage at Best Buy, so I couldn't really take it in to get it fixed because, even though the damage wasn't caused by a drop, they would not have believed me.  Thursday night I closed my laptop, took it home from work, and then couldn't open it back up.  Wanna know why?  The hinge was totally broken.  The metal frame inside the plastic case had snapped and twisted in half, breaking, and making it impossible to hold the right lower side of the screen together.  I was so depressed.  Laptops are expensive!  And I can't afford to not have my work computer right now, when it's my busiest time of the year.  UGH.

Hubs fixed my laptop so that it's at least functioning, but I can't close it. Ever.  It now has to live at the shop.  I'm going through some serious computer withdrawls at home.  My phone is great, but you can only look at certain things online with it.  :(

So, once the computer was permanently installed at the shop, I went home, determined to sew since I couldn't do my normal computing stuff.  Well, I recently got my machine fixed and the old man who fixed it totally screwed up the tension on it.  I didn't ask him to fix the tension.  I asked him to fix the broken hand wheel.  Yet, he seemed to think that he needed to adjust my perfect tension to something less than perfect.  OH I was pissed to say the least.  I had to loosen my tension significantly, and hope that I don't have any more issues with it.  I have seriously never sewn with my tension set to 1.25, but that is where it currently is.  Factory setting was at a 3.0.  He had it set to a 5.25!! 

Lastly:  The Munchkin woke up this morning sad.  He opened his DS up and discovered that it was broken.  Oh, he can still use the touch screen, but the upper screen is cracked.  Sad day.  Luckily Hubs knows where to purchase replacement parts online.  In addition to purchasing a new upper screen, he also bought a new housing unit for him (it will be blue instead of silver now).  My DS Lite has had a broken hinge for about a year, so we also bought me a new housing unit.  Munchkin is so excited to have a "new" blue DS.  He was all smiles when we showed it to him.

Now I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that bad things really don't just happen in 3's, and that there are 2 more electronics-related bad things coming my way.  That would not be cool!

I have had it!

Dear Neighbors,

I have put up with your crap  long enough.  In the 1 1/2 years we have lived here, we have endured you dragging stuff across your laminate kitchen floor at all hours of the day (and night - try 2 AM), but tonight was the final straw.  When I can hear your TV through the wall, over my TV, then you have it turned up too loud.  When I can hear your bass through the wall in my son's bedroom - UPSTAIRS - then you have it turned up too loud.  When I pound on the wall because it is 11:45 PM on a SCHOOL NIGHT, and you pound back, you are making yourself look like an inconsiderate moron.  I know you have kids.  How do they sleep through all that noise in your living room?

PLEASE BE CONSIDERATE OF YOUR NEIGHBORS AND TURN YOUR VOLUME AND/OR BASS DOWN AFTER 10 PM!!!  ESPECIALLY ON A SCHOOL NIGHT!!!!!!

Thank you,

Your pissed-off-and-tired-of-your-noisy-crap neighbors.

UGH!!

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Both of my wrists and hands, and lower arms started hurting today.  I didn't get any work done, I was in so much pain.  I went to Wal-Mart and picked me up a pair of these babies.  And now I'm wearing them around the house.  It sucks.  It's weird.  I can't wait to get them off!!!  Hoping that tomorrow they're feeling better so I don't have to wear them all day!

Why do I even bother?

Today was $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point.  We've been promising Marshy for months that we'd go to the Dinosaur Museum there, which he LOVES, but have always put it off because it costs us $30 to take our whole family (all 3 of us). 

I figured today would be a good day because it was the first day of school everywhere.  No one will be at the museum on the first day of school, right?

WRONG!

The place was PACKED.  Literally.  Stay at home moms and dads with their little kids, some too little to fully appreciate the awesomeness of the dinosaur museum (like, 3-months-old-and-sleeping-in-the-car-seat-in-the-HUGE-stroller-that-nearly-ran-us-over-a-couple-of-times too young).

We waited for nearly 10 minutes just to pay to get in.  That should have been my first sign that this day was going to suck.  They were also doing oatmeal taste testing if you filled out a survey.  What?  Seriously?  Oatmeal? Yuck!  And it was totally slowing down the progression of the line.  Tired of standing there, we pressed forward. Then the taste testers approached me.

Her:  Would you like to take a survey and try three different kinds of oatmeal today?
Me:  No. We just want to get into the museum.
Her:  Oh, okay then, go right ahead.

She lets us through....ahead of the three groups of people doing the survey. They glare at me, but it's their own fault they can't go any further. They volunteered to do the oatmeal thing, not me! haha

We pay our $4 (remember, $2/per person today) and enter the museum.  We can barely move the tiny exhibit rooms are so packed with people and screaming kids and GIANT strollers with NO kids in them.  If you're not going to put your kid in the stroller, leave it outside people!

We wind our way through the rooms until we get to the fun part: the dinosaur bones and activity centers.  Marshy has been looking forward to playing on the erosion table for almost a year.  He loves it!  There's sand and water and you can watch how erosion works while playing with plastic dinosaurs and palm trees and building mountains and valleys, etc.  It's a lot of fun.

To get to the erosion table, you have to walk past the "design a dinosaur" station. It's a large, carpet covered figure.  On the walls are pieces: heads, horns, noses, spikes, tails, etc. that you can attach with velcro to build your own dinsoaur.  It's so crowded we barely push through.  That's a bad sign, cuz it's by far the lamest activity there.

As we approach the erosion table there are so many people that I'm sure the fire marshal would've freaked out.  Kids are standing reaching over the tops of one another to play in the water.  Marshy wants to play, but I can barely see him next to me (and he's holding my hand!) so I tell him maybe next time, there's too many kids playing in the water right now.  He sighs and shuffles out of the room with me.

We battle our way through the museum to the next fun activity:  digging for dinosaur bones in the sand.  Again, so many kids and parents and shoes and socks and strollers all over the place that there's no way he would ever have gotten to dig.  It makes me sad.  It makes him sad, too.  I offer to take him to the gift shop and buy him a consolation prize.  He gets happier.  He picks the biggest dinosaur he can find in our price range and is so happy!  That makes the day a little better.  We were only in there for maybe 40 minutes.  It's a good thing we only paid $4. I would've been pissed if I'd paid full price.

Then we get lunch at McDonald's.  The Happy Meal toys are superheroes.  Today's toy?  Aquaman.  LAME.  As we're driving through the bank, Marshy says, "Look mom!"  I look back to find this: 

"T-REX IS EATING AQUAMAN MOMMY!"

And that, I have decided, is why I bother.

WHAT THE ?????

Okay, I need to vent for a second. So, if you happen to be a HUGE fan of Dexter and have yet to see the Season 4 finale, then DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! There are some HUGELY major spoilers ahead!





















Okay, you who have seen it: you still with me??

Was anyone else MAJORLY disturbed by how the season ended? I mean, seriously?!


Why in the crap did they decide that they needed to kill Rita?! I liked Rita! Yes, sometimes she was a little needy, but then, she had every right to be because Dex wasn't always there when she needed him, and he was lying quite frequently to her, so do you blame her for being needy? No!

And what's going to happen to the kids? Yes, Dexter will most likely keep Harrison, because he's the dad, but what about the other 2?? He doesn't have legal ties to them now that Rita's dead, does he? I don't recall them ever mentioning him adopting them. So what now? Where do they go?

I am seriously disturbed. I wonder if I'll be able to go to sleep now (it's 1 AM here) because I'm so wound up by this season finale!

Couldn't they have just let Dex kill Trinity and go meet Rita in the Keys like he was supposed to? Why did they have to screw everything up, just when Dexter realized he could be good and push the darkness away? OOOHHH we are so angry with them right now at our house!




Okay, I'm done, for now. Feel free to leave your feelings on the matter in the comments. I really would love to hear what the rest of you who saw the finale thought of it. :D

It's not a far drive....

I am going crazy.

And let me tell you, it's not a far drive for me right now.

What is driving me crazy, you ask?

Well, my cousin just had a baby. Due to some other circumstances I won't get into right now, I've sworn off giving away baby quilts to newborns for a while.

One day, about two weeks ago, I was flipping through one of my hundreds of quilting magazines, and found the PERFECT gift to give her. It was quilted wall art, with some embroidery on it. It was the perfect thing: handmade, but simple - totally not a big deal (unlike a quilt).

Well, do you think I can remember what magazine it's in?

Do you think that even after going through, page by page, all of my many hundreds of magazines I can find it?

Yeah, that would be a big fat no. I have no idea where this pattern went. I'm sure I could come up with my own, but the pattern they had was seriously perfect for what I wanted to do....and I can't remember now! :(

So, if you perhaps would maybe know where this pattern is, shoot me a comment, won't ya? Thanks so much! And know that it just might save my sanity for a little while longer. haha

Is it bad if...?

Is it bad if you're writing a book and you have to take out 15 pages because they suck? Did I mention they were consecutive pages?

Is it bad if you're writing a book and you have absolutely no idea how it's going to end, because it has suddenly taken on its own personality and is constantly changing its mind?

Is it bad if you're writing 12 books at the same time because you can't get past the first sentence on 11 of them?

Is it bad if you're writing a book and all you want to do is write? Even over watching your favorite TV show or reading your favorite books?


I am seriously having some major writer's block. The worst part is I keep coming up with ideas for other stories that I want to write, and I know how I want them to play out, but those first few crucial chapters are so elusive! I can't seem to write more than 1 or 2 sentences of pure garbage before I scrap the whole thing and move on to a different project! UGH this is so frustrating.

Okay, sorry, I just needed to vent for a minute. I'm okay. Now, back to writing something!

Stupid

Umm...so it's snowing outside.

It's April, shouldn't it be, oh, I don't know, SUNNY? And perhaps WARM? And definitely NOT snowing?!

I just scraped 5 inches of snow off of my car. I was at work. When I left to go back to work, it was misting, so I wore my "Team Jacob" track suit, and a pair of flip flops. Yeah, let's just say my toes are FROZEN! I'm just now starting to get the feeling back in them after standing in half a foot of snow to scrape the car off (about 15 minutes ago, at least!)

Also, people who think they can drive as fast as they normally do in a blizzard are INSANE. Do they not realize that by tailgating me while I got 20 mph on a 50 mph road in a blizzard, that I might be tempted to slow down even more, just to teach them a lesson? Of course, I don't because then I'd be out a car, and I kinda need my car. I only have the one. It's kind of important to me.

So, there you have it. Two stupid things that happened tonight: Stupid drivers, and Stupid weather. Dumb. I'm done. I'm done with the snow. Make it stop! PLEEEEASE?!

Help me! I'm a little blogger challenged!

How do you add a link to a post? Anyone know? I'm trying to link a post from my other blog to a previous post here on this blog. I have absolutely no idea how to do it! AAHH! I am so challenged!!

(Note: It could have something to do with the 3 y.o. standing yelling in my ear: "I want my DS and my pen and my charger and my headphones! I want it I want it I want it I want it I want it!" despite my best efforts to tell him that "You can have it when mommy's done working....in a minute." Guess I'd better go find the rest of the stuff now that he's practically mangled the crap out of his headphones.)

One of these things is not like the other....

I bought a puzzle from KMart about a month and a half ago. It's really cute. It's a Charles Wysocki, and it had an antique store with a "Quilts for Sale" sign and everything. It was totally me.

Imagine my sadness when I finished the puzzle and was missing a few edge pieces! I emailed the company about it. They apologized and said they'd send me a replacement if I would provide the puzzle brand/line, name, and UPC.

See? Isn't it the cutest puzzle?! I LOVE IT! It's a MB puzzle, Charles Wysocki Americana line, "Peppercricket Farms" puzzle.

This is what I got in the mail: A Hasbro brand, Big Ben line, stupid boat picture. And it's UGLY! Did they get confused by the labels or something? I mean, seriously, what is up with that?! If I had wanted an ugly picture of boats, I would've bought an ugly picture of boats instead of the cute Charles Wysocki.

Seriously? Is this how all companies handle their customer service? My mom bought a puzzle from a different company (not Hasbro) once, about three years ago, and just put it together in January. It was missing a piece. She called them and they sent her out, get this: THE EXACT SAME PUZZLE. 3 years later! What are the odds? I only waited a weekend to contact Hasbro. What a novel idea to send the customer what they want, and not some ugly boat picture!

Anyone else had this happen?

Food Woes

So I've been freaked out a little lately that Marshy won't eat a lot.

Like, yesterday he wanted a lemon poppyseed muffin (from Sam's), so Mike cut him half. He ate it, and I gave him the other half, but had to practically feed it to him to get him to finish. For some reason I didn't see that a muffin was much of a lunch, so I tried to get him to eat more food, which he wouldn't. I was upset and angry that he was being so "naughty" and uncooperative.


UNTIL I read the nutrition facts label on the bottom of the muffin box. Each muffin has 610 calories. 610 CALORIES I couldn't believe it! It was insane! And here I'd just force-fed him 305 of those 610 calories and tried to make him eat more!! I felt so bad. From now on I'm going to read all the labels before I force the child to eat food! Because, for a kid who's used to only having 300-400 calories per meal, 610 is A LOT!

So behind

So I've decided to start rejoining in the FlyLady system/routine. I did really good last week. My entrance was always clean (it did need to be steamed, but then it rained and snowed so I had to put my rug back down). My dining room table is actually cleared off and that corner is decluttered! I actually folded and put away ALL the laundry, instead of leaving some (or all) of it in the laundry hampers. I even swept my front porch!



This week we're supposed to be in the kitchen. The kitchen is where I spend a good chunk of time now. I make 3 different meals for dinner: 1 for Mike, 1 for Marsh (unless he's cooperative and eats what Mike's having), and then my special HCG meal. I have like seriously no counter space again. If anyone finds a really cheap (like under $50) kitchen cart, please let me know... I need to expand my kitchen desperately!

Here is my kitchen in a nutshell. It is so tiny that when the dishwasher is open, you can't open the fridge more than 2 inches. Once I managed, somehow miraculously, to get a gallon of milk out while the dishwasher was open. Once.

So, back to the kitchen. On the left side of the sink live the Kitchenaid stand mixer, the blender, and the crock pot. On the right side of the sink lives the rotating spice rack, the knife block, all of the cutting boards I own, and the George Foreman grill. On the counter between the oven and fridge lives the microwave.

I would like to note that with all of the counters there are small cupboards below and above. There are 2 small cupboards above the fridge and the stove. The cupboards on the long side of the kitchen (side with the sink) don't go to the ceiling, so I have a lot of stuff stored up on top, like the griddle, the rice cooker, the deep fryer, the other crock pot, and some oversized bowls that don't fit anywhere else.

So, back to the FlyLady thing.... we're supposed to clear our counters off COMPLETELY and wipe them down. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Unless I want to trip and kill myself by putting the stuff on the floor, this one isn't getting done anytime soon. Also, scrubbing the faucet with a toothbrush? I don't know about you, but the only non-electric toothbrush I own is the one I got from the periodontist because I can't brush with an electric one yet (still having gum issues).

So the odds of getting this week's flying done are slim to none. Plus, I don't have a lot of energy this week. I don't know why. I'm super excited about starting Phase 3 of the HCG, which means that I'll be cooking even MORE, but I can eat EGGS, and natural Peanut Butter, and CHEESE!! I'm so excited!

I'm more than willing to accept any advice/tips you might have for me on solving my kitchen problem. Did I mention that on the other side of the tall cupboard is the garbage can, then the dining room table (which is really a card table) that hides the food processor, which is still in its box because there isn't any room for it on the counter or in a cupboard? Yeah....HELP ME PLEASE!!!

And don't suggest I dejunk my electronics/appliances, because I already got rid of a SLURPEE machine, a fondue set, a waffle iron, and a broken blender. :)

Send me no flowers

I've had enough! It's Valentine's weekend. I don't want to see another flower for a couple of days, after tomorrow.

Unless, of course, Mike decides to buy me some on his own, and I don't have to make them.

Of course, my HCG diet was his present to me, so he probably won't be getting me flowers, which is OK.

Worked 10 hours today, a few hours Thursday afternoon, and plan on working all day tomorrow too at the floral shop.

Can I tell you something stupid? The local high school had a semi-formal, flowered dance 3 weeks ago. It was girls' choice. Tomorrow (Saturday) is the Valentine's dance: semi-formal, flowered, and boys' choice. Do they not realize how expensive flowers are?? And how stupid is it to have a dance just 3 weeks after the last one? It's dumb, that's what it is.

So, if you don't hear from me for a couple of days, I am either dead or recovering from V-Day.

So behind!

I was going to work a lot tonight. But I wore heels to the shop today and stood from 10:30 until 5:30 with only maybe an hour break total. I'm doing the flowers for my cousin's wedding on Saturday. Only half of the flowers are done. I have to finish tomorrow.

Anyway, my feet are KILLING me so I crashed on the couch and started watching the Santa Clause on Disney. I fell asleep 30 minutes in. When I woke up I restarted it, then fell asleep in the EXACT SAME SPOT! At 10:30 PM I went upstairs to go to bed and, wouldn't you know it, couldn't. So now I'm restless. It's too late to go work. My feet are still killing me. And, Mike is watching a movie downstairs (Public Enemies) so I can't sew.


UGH! I AM SO BEHIND!!!

Best Diet Ever

So, while this whole connective tissue graft has been such a pain in the butt, I have to admit that some good has come out of it.

I have lost 14 pounds in just under 2 weeks. That's pretty good, for me. In fact, when I went to the clinic on Saturday and they took my blood pressure, it's gone down from pre-hypertension to normal! YAY! Who'da thunk that 14 pounds could make that much of a difference?

Ultimately I would like to lose maybe 20 pounds by the time this ordeal is over. I'm supposed to get my sutures out on Wednesday, but unfortunately, due to my own stupidity (i.e.: eating pizza, even though it was cut up into bites), part of the sutures have pulled through, and I think I might have to go in tomorrow and have it reattached. Grrr.... stupid pizza.

Note: I don't recommend doing a Google image search for before/after photos. YIKES! Some people have scary gums. I thought mine were bad but after seeing those photos, I have some hope that they'll turn out okay. :)

Anyway, if you ever want to lose a lot of weight fast, try only chewing on your left molars, not biting into anything, and not drinking out of a straw. That cut out fast food and Coke for me. :( Oh well. Eating every 3-4 hours wasn't all that bad. Soup, spaghetti o's, pasta cut into little bites, applesauce and cottage cheese, yogurt, and lots and LOTS of water certainly has worked out well :)

Who knows? Maybe I'll keep the diet up after I get clearance to bite into things! haha

Weird

So I just found out that, after taking amoxicillin for 10 days (and having taken it in the past) that I am ALLERGIC to it.

Last night I broke out in hives all over my arms and legs. I went to the clinic today and found out that, yes, I am allergic.


Mike still wants me to go get a full allergy panel done, because he thinks it's weird that it wouldn't have happened before now. I agree. The only problem is that the only allergist in my area that is accepted by my insurance is the "quack" I saw last spring.

So, I might have to drive up to the Salty City to get this taken care of. So not my favorite thing, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?


Oh, and in happier news: I get my sutures out on Wednesday. I cannot wait to bite into a nice juicy hamburger! YAY!

What do you get....

....The parents who are having a "spiritual Christmas" (a.k.a.: "we're not spending any money this year") (Oh, and you've already bought the gift for one of them)?

....The 3 year old who wants EVERYTHING he sees?

....The husband who likes video games, electronics, and all other really expensive things?

....The grandma who has no sense of smell, can't eat anything with sugar, and you made her a quilt last year, so it has to top that?

....The family you have for Christmas that has 2 boys (Dad and son who love video games, electronics, and all things expensive), and 3 girls (Mom, daughter, and baby who are all diverse in their likes/dislikes)?

....The grandma who's birthday happens to also be on Christmas, so whatever you get is kind of a double gift, but also for Grandpa too, so he doesn't feel left out?

I need help!!!

It is now the 5th of December and I am in such big trouble! Usually I'm done with my shopping by now. I had planned out everything I was going to get people.

Marshy was going to get Woody w/RC and the Buzz Lightyear action figure (until I found out how much they were!).

Mike was going to get a video game (until he decided that he'd rather play the PC than the XBOX 360).

Mom was going to get a sewing machine (until lil' bro didn't pay up his half of the money and the machine is no longer available on the killer sale we were gonna buy it on).

As for everyone else, well.....I was gonna play that by ear, I guess.

Today I did do a little shopping at Wal-Mart (my FAVORITE store EVER!). I bought Elefun for $13.88 (instead of the $25 at Shopko), a fun Spongebob Squarepants magnetic toy w/book, and a $3.00 bargain bin book about dinosaurs. At least Marsh will have some presents now! haha. He is getting a Cars comforter (if I ever finish binding it....I'm so close to being done, it just takes me sitting down at the machine to finish it off, and I don't ever feel like doing that!) and a matching Cars pillow case. I'm sure he's going to be so thrilled to be getting bedding for Christmas, but, oh well!

He's been asking for a "big boy bed." I'm assumming that the crib-turned-daybed is now too small for him. He's getting quite large for it, I must admit. However, buying the "big boy bed" requires buying a new mattress. I love IKEA, but we just haven't found the bed that screams "Marshy" yet.

Can I just say that I absolutely HATE shopping this time of year?? Anyone else feeling as lost and confused this time of year as I am??

Why I hate the dentist.

Why I hate the dentist.
By Busty LaRue.

I hate the dentist because he always makes me feel guilty for not flossing. I hate the dentist because the chair is really uncomfortable.

I hate the dentist because he always has bad news for me like: "Your teeth are good, but you need a gum graft. You have to go to a periodontist for that. Good luck."

I hate the dentist because I looked up what is involved in a gum graft, and it's a little freaky. Now I'm stressed and TOTALLY freaked about it.

I did like the dentist because I got to use the laughing gas. It was a cool experience (first time user). I couldn't stop giggling....until it wore off and I could feel the heat from the ultrasonic on my lip. OUCH!

I also hate the dentist insurance. They require a written referral for EVERYTHING, preauthorization for EVERY procedure, no matter how minor, and they may not cover my surgery. Oh yeah, and they don't cover IV sedation for my 3 year old. Maybe they'll volunteer to come hold him down while he gets his teeth worked on and then capped? Maybe that'll teach them a lesson in how important it is to have sedation covered? Yeah, I didn't think so, either.

And that is why I hate the dentist.

The End.