Merry Christmas to ME!!

I just bought my first point and shoot camera! I have been saving for awhile and not been able to get it. Every time I have gotten within $5.00 I have used the money for something else that the family needed and this time I was able to get it!!!!
'till later

is the season over yet?

So this last week I have been all over the place with the terrible two's and the sick child.
Matthew has been REALLY pushing my last nerve with his two's. Tuesday, while I was trying to get ready for work, he undressed himself down to his pull-up, not once, not twice, but three times! I finally said I gotta go threw his clothes in the diaper bag and took him to the daycare as it. Then yesterday as I was trying to get him dressed he ran out the front door with no shirt on and booked it down the driveway. I am so done with the twos.
Ally has been sick for awhile. Since about mid September, with intestinal pain and problems. Now it has compounded with what the doctor says is a "virus". Ally's birthday was Monday and we had to cancel her birthday party because she was sick with a fever from the "virus". Now we are looking at having postponing Christmas because we are pretty sure she has the flu. I am sitting on the couch while she is FINALLY sleeping soundly and relaxed, thank you Tylenol Flu for kids!

Ho, ho, ho

'till later

Birthday GIrl!

I can't believe that my baby girl is eight years old! Today is Ally's birthday and I am sitting here remembering what that day was like and where I was. I was surrounded by the one's I love, my kindred spirits and nurses. I can't remember what my life was like with out her.
The last couple of months she hasn't felt good due to intestinal problems and now she has a virus and is sick, poor baby. We had to cancel Ally's birthday party and her Wii party. I think she is okay, she seems to just be happy with mom and dad being home with her. I still can't believe that she is eight!
'til later

Long time...

It has really been a while, hasn't it? Well a lot has happened but nothing too big. Matt is potty training and almost there! Thank goodness. Ally is in Girl Scouts again and getting busy, I applied to Linfield for my bachelor degree and John is really looking into getting his training certificate.

Tonight I got Ally's patches sewn on, a good thing for me (so I don't loose them), and got my purse cleaned out. It's amazing the little things that make me happy. I spent the day with my best friend Sarah. We went up to the Girl Scout Store and picked up some patches for the girls and a girl in Ally's troop.
'til later

too pooped to move

Yesterday was a fun and intense shopping day. I took Ally school close shopping at the outlet mall. That was about as much fun as shooting myself in the foot. I did get A LOT of clothes for a little money! Then we went to a anniversary party for my good friends and tubed, ate, swam, and partied as those with little children can! We had a blast, ended up spending more time driving than shopping and I think that today we all have a little fun hangover. As I type now I thank God for spellcheck, ha ha.
'till later

Matt has a big boy bed!

So this weekend was crazy busy with working, getting pictures ready for fair, birthday party, friends and trying to do it all at once...let me tell you it doesn't work! Last night was the judging at the fair for the photography department. I did okay, pretty consistent. I got a second place in Macro/close-up and an honorable mention, 4Th.


Diamonds are a girls best friend, 2ND.

Shades of Wheat,
Honorable Mention











Today I got Matt's big boy bed put up and right at this moment he and Daddy are sleeping and snoring. It is so sweet!

'till later

Fair Time!

It has been a busy summer. John and Ally have done some fishing but I have been working! Tomorrow I am entering some pictures of mine into the County Fair for a competition, wish me luck!
'till later!

SO MUCH FUN!

This last weekend I had a mother's night out with some "old" girlfriends and some "new" girlfriends, there were six in all and we had a BLAST! At least that is what I left thinking the next day! We went to the movies and then out for dinner. Fun, fun, fun! Thank you to my wonderful hubby for letting me get away for a little while without so much as a call or text.

'till later

Pics as promised!

Here are the pictures of Ally's Girl Scout Bridging.

Ally has earned almost all of her petals! There are ten and she has earned seven! The patch on the lower part is her Daisy Journey's patch. She completed the entire book and her service project and earned it.


On the back she has some participation patches. Starting left to right she has her newest one, bridging to brownies, the big one in the center is an Ice Skating trip her troop earned for selling almost 3000 boxes of cookies!, next is a Cancer awareness patch for helping at a relay for life event. The second row is her world thinking day, she went and participated and learned about Ireland, the center yellow one is for participating in cookie sales, then the cookie sales patch she earned for selling cookies and an amount + patch.
Finally she had her sleepover patch she earned, and then a camp-in patch.




She bridged from Daisy's to Brownie's!

She is all set for this coming year! She has her troop insignia on and she has earned some try-it's already and I got those on for her.
You go girl!






Also she had her last game of the year tonight and I was able to catch her hitting the last ball of the year for her!!










She is so cute!!

'till later!

Still sick

Last week I went to the doctor on Thursday because of being sick. I missed two days of work and my graduation. Well Monday morning John called the doctor, unannounced to me, and made me an appointment to go back. So we went and the doctor gave me a shot of steroids, a breathing treatment, and took x--rays. I have bronchial pneumonia in both lungs with matching infections ta-boot! Whoopee! I get to stay home until Thursday. If I can breath I get to go to work then.
On a happy note! Ally has bridged from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownies! She is so big! I will post pics tomorrow.
'till later

Irony wins out

Today I was supposed to walk in my graduation with my Associates of Arts degree. However I am TOO sick to be able to go outside without having breathing issues. I hate this. So I am very sick and very disappointed. This bites.
'till later

irony at it's meanist

So I am sick. Not throwing up sick but really sick. I have pneumonia and an infection in my lung, I am off work for three days at least and if I don't get better I have to go back to the doc. Irony is I am supposed to walk in my graduation tomorrow. I can't hardly breath and go into coughing fits! That is what I call the definition of irony.

Check lists done!

Today was they day for checklists! So nothing would be forgotten. I woke up to making another doc. appointment, everything is great, Ally is getting better!, then final time, and driving to Salem to turn in school books and science lab stuff, to race home to get said child to appointment, then picking up snacks for a game that she isn't even able to go to and getting those to someone who can take them,...then getting home to finish putting the final project for Ally's service project done, the proof and pictures, then finally off to the last Girl Scout meeting of the year! WHEW, that is a list!!
Ally turned in her project and the troop leader had her stand on a chair in front of everyone to tell about what she did. I am so proud of her! She told about what she did and how it made her feel. Good job baby girl!!
Next week she has her bridging ceremony and will bridge into Brownies, she is so excited. She can't wait to earn badges!!
'til later

Relay for Life and a little Daisy

Tonight Ally was volunteering to help with setting up luminaries for the Relay for life. She was a little skittish at first, she didn't like walking up to the moving vehicle to grab luminaries but I walked behind the vehicle, carrying Matt, and handed her the bags. She did so good. Other than the troop leaders daughter who was there for the night with the team, Ally was the only other one from our troop that showed up. She is so pooped.
'till later

Ally completes her first service project for Girl Scouts!!

Ally is bridging to the Brownie level soon and it is important to teach her follow through with things that she has started. One of those is her Journey's badge in Daisy's. Part of that completion is a service project in the community. When I asked her about this she said she wanted to garden. So we went over to the Amity Public Library and spoke to the Librarian about her doing some weeding and picking up around the building. She said that would be great and we planned it for Sunday.Ally doesn't really like to do anything small so when I asked her if she was ready for this she said she wanted to get flowers and make it a garden. I told her that she needed to come up with a way to earn the money needed to purchase the flowers and she came up with the idea to collect cans. Friday she went with Grandma and collected $13.00 worth of cans! She and I went Sunday morning and rounded up some more and got another $7.00, that was $20.00 worth of can's!Then we went to Bi-Mart and bought $20.00 worth of flowers, they were having a sale so that was a bonus!

We went to the library and got started. That was at 12:45; at 4:45 we were finally done, pulling weeds, planting, laying mulch, and cleaning up. That was a BIG job for that little girl but she did so awesome!! We went to the library tonight to get a signature sign off for her project and
the librarian was so ex
cited and surprised by all that Ally did!I am so very proud of her! She collected the cans, turned them in (not us), bought the plants and did the rest. She is so proud of herself!!


Before Ally got her Daisy hands on it!









Ally collected bottles and cans and turned them in for money for the next step!
















Picking out the flowers and buying them.






















Cleaning up and weeding.





























Finally Done!









Before and after!













Good Job Baby Girl!!
'till later

A lot has gone on!

I didn't realize it had been so long since my last post! Girl Scout cookies are over and Ally has started pitching machine ball. She is doing really good. Last year on her team she averaged one hit for the entire season during a game, this year she is averaging two points a game! She is doing really well! They are selling candy, cookie dough, and meet sticks and she didn't want to sell them because she just finished cookies, can't say that I blame her though.
John's mom was in the hospital for a few days. Everything is okay now, she has to change a few things, but she is feeling better. She got out the day before Mother's day. Mother's day John and the kids took me out to breakfast, then we went shopping and I got a set of Adirondack chairs with a table that I have been wanting for about three years, I haven't had a chance to sit in them yet but I will!
We have all been so busy around here. Yesterday I worked, then photographed a senior, came home for dinner, changed and went back into town for class, came home worked on the pictures and then tried to get some homework done. Ally, bless her heart wanted to help and she did a load of laundry. Small amount of clothes - entire lid full (large lid) of Woolite laundry soap. I am running it for the second time of just a water cycle to make sure all the soap is out!
'till later

Ally got her first patches!!

Monday night was Ally's Girl Scout meeting and they had all the cookie awards there and patches that the girls have earned in the last few months. Ally got a 1st Cookie Sales patch, a cookie participation patch, a 100+ patch, and a camp-in patch! She is also well on her way to earning her watering can patch, a Daisy only patch, and it really stoked!!
Once I get them sewn on (one is already, just need thread for the other three) I will get a picture up, she is so proud and I am too!
'till later

Gorgeous day

Yesterday was such a gorgeous day! Besides housework and homework I was able to putz around the outside! John got two tree's for our backyard and I can't wait until they blossom. He was told they are cherry tree's but didn't know if they were blossoms only or if they were fruit producing. Don't really care, either way I am going to have some gorgeous tree's. Nothing much has been going on around here, work, school, work, and house.
At the last Girl Scout meeting I had the Daisy's plant a little garden that is to grow with them as they grow. It has been two weeks and their plants are sprouting! Tonight's meeting I am going to be talking to them about recycling and how things around their home can be made into something useful. At work we use paper and we have very very strong cardboard centers, so I am going to give the girls those, with the plastic supports, to decorate and make a pen holder for their mom's for mother's day! I can't wait!
'til later

Girl Scout Sleepover!!

Last night Ally had her first Girl Scout Sleepover! She loved it. They worked on their Make-up badge and had a Mary Kay representative come over, the bonus was she was also some of the other young ladies teacher. They had a blast! After that the older girls worked on other badge requirements and the Daisy's had their nails and toes painted. This morning I picked up Ally and she was talking non-stop about what she did. How she fell asleep when some of the other girls were telling jokes and how she got up and was the first girl up.
'till later

I am sore!

This is the second week of school and stupidly I thought that I should take a intermediate conditioning class ( I have taken the beginning several years ago) and I have gone to the gym three times this week and man am I feeling the soreness. I am feeling strong but I am sore. It is funny, every time I move I want to wince. So much for knowing what muscles I have.
'til later

Spring Break is over!

WOW! What a day! Ally's Girl Scout troop set a goal of selling 1000 boxes of cookies. Well they didn't sell 1000 boxes...they sold 2576 boxes!!! Yeah girls!! So today the troop got to go ice-skating at Loyd Center Mall. They all did a great job! Ally was a little scared at first but she got the hang of it. She went around and around and around, even went through the middle a few times! She fell a lot at first but she did so good! She also got her first patch!
I will post pictures but due to the fact my digital is down I am working a 35mm. Goin' old school!
'till later

Finals Week!

Ugh! I hate finals. I am terrible as it is on tests but throw in a massive one and my mind checks out. Yesterday I had a math final. I was feeling OK about it but then he gave it to us and it was like my mind just checked out! I did the best that I could after a lot of stress, I don't know if I did what I needed to get the grade I wanted in the class but I know I did my best. After class I went to work and it was like I cracked up. I was just jibbering and was almost comical. A co-worker of mine actually asked if he could stay to see what I was going to say or do next.
I think that my stress level went down (duh) and the endorphins suddenly shot up. I have only one more final left, tomorrow, and I have a pretty good feeling about it.
'til later

Next term here I come!

Chemeketa finally got it through their heads that people who are close to graduating should get first dibs on classes!! This morning at 8am I was able to log on to register and by 8:07 I was done! Yeah baby! That's what I'm talkin about!! So after Wednesday of next week I have one week off!!! I am soooooo good!
'til later

Weekend of relaxing...sort of

This weekend I got away with my mom and Ally and we went to the beach. It was beautiful on Saturday. We got to the beach, did a little shopping and then got to the beach house. After snacks Mom and Ally went to the beach and I did homework, YIPPIE!!!(right...big sigh). I was able to relax though and it was really nice to kick back and not have to fight little fingers trying to "help" and two fighting.
I am in the last week before finals of this term and I feel like I have blinked. With all the set backs with the kids' health and my own I am surprised that I am doing as well as I am, still I know I can do better and am frustrated because of this.
'til later

Sheesh!

Well Ally has a pretty bad ear infection, that would be why she was having so many fevers. Matt is still having issues with diarrhea and my foot is still in a walking cast. Last Thursday I went to the podiatrist and she said it was one of two things; Achilles tendinitis, severe, or a clot. So I went to the hospital and had an ultra sound to rule out the clot, no clot thank goodness. So I get to wear the boot for another month. And now I have a bad head cold or, John thinks, the flu, again. Great, just what I need.
John and the kids are healthy though and that is what is important. Ally is doing so well with her homework, her reading is really progressing and her math is really going well too. I am so proud of her.
'til later

Pain, Pain, go away...

So yesterday was Monday, and what a Monday it was. I posted earlier that I was up with Ally and a sickie stomach, boy was that a widow to the day! I went to work, no biggie, and had lunch, no biggie and nothing big, but at 3 I started getting a MASSIVE stomach ache. It got so bad that I thought that I was having another gal bladder attack, funny thing though mine is gone, and couldn't breath. Krista called John and he called my mom to see if she could come and get me. We took a little trip to the ER and after waiting an hour saw a nurse and then went back to the waiting game. While we were walking out I got sick again and went to the bathroom to throw up ten minutes later I was fine. No pain, no hard of breathing, nothing but a sore gut and back and very tired.
I don't know what the pain was but I don't want it to come back. Guess I am going to the bland diet again.
Now on to funner stuff! We have to collect stool samples from Matt's diarrhea! What fun!! Matt has had this crud for almost a week and it is getting worse. So John took Matt to the doc. and they said it could be a parasite. Lovely. I hope not, but we have to figure out what is going on. Matt is miserable and he is loosing a lot of weight. He used to have a little pot-belly, that is going away and the diapers are starting to get a little too big. So we have his little tushi in saran wrap. Great!!
'til later

Fevers, fevers, and a walking cast. What fun!

A week ago I was placed in a walking cast because they thought I may have ripped my Achilles tendon or did something to my nerves. Thursday when I was in class I was getting ready to take a test and all of a sudden the worst pain shot up my leg and was so bad that I was actually shaking. Long day, story, short, the doctor wouldn't see me and set up an appointment for the next day, great so I am in agonizing pain and she says see you later! So I go to the doctors and they take x-rays all the way to my thigh to make sure I haven't broken something odd, no go its something else.
Saturday I get up, go to work, and do my thing. I got that same pain around the same time of day and ended up having to go home because the pain was coming through even with the meds. they gave me. So now twice John has had to come into town to get me because the pain is so bad I can't drive. I spent the entire day with my foot up and the pain slowly going away. That night, just as I was getting ready to go to bed Ally comes out and says she doesn't feel well, she had a 102.5 temp. and looked red hot. At 2 AM her temp finally broke and she soaked the couch. She finally got settled again and Matt woke up with a terrible diaper. So Happy Valentines Day to me! Got two sick kids and a busted foot! Who could want more!
So now it is 12:24 AM on Monday morning, Ally is up with a nauseated stomach and another fever. GREAT!!!
Hope everyone's else was great! Happy Valentines Day everyone! Lu

Weekend starting out with a BANG!

Ally's school week is Monday ~ Thursday, so her weekend starts on Thursday afternoons. I was in class at about four when I get this text message from our babysitter "do you have Ally?" I jumped up in the middle of my lecture and ran out the door to call her and find out what was going on. Ally and another little boy hadn't gotten off the bus and we didn't know where she was. The baby sitter called the bus barn and I grabbed my stuff and ran out the door and started immediately calling everyone on the list that is okay to pick her up. No one had her so I then called my friend Krista to ask her if her husband had seen Ally when he picked his son up (they are in the same class), he said that he heard their teacher tell his daughter that Ally had gotten on the bus.
So John is at the school, I am checking at home to see if she walked home and mom is on her way in to grab Matt. Twenty minutes has passed by and I get a call from the babysitter saying that the bus driver had her and was turning around. This is when I found out that there was another little boy with her. They were busy playing on the floor of the bus in the back where they were not supposed to be and the driver didn't see them or hear them.
So everyone was called to let them know she was ok and that we had her.
Friday Ally was instructed to pay attention and went on a field trip to OMSI, she loved it! She got to make electricity and climb into a giant ear!
Wow, can't wait till the weekend is over!
'til later,

Monday, Monday...lalala

So what a weekend and oh what a Monday. So glad that this day is over.
This weekend we had an over the top P'OOOD customer and what really ticks me off is that once again I caught the crap that someone has created. I don't have a problem helping people or solving an issue but when the same problem keeps happening what the heck is going on!

So then I get my cell phone bill the top has just came off my lid! $383.00! for one month!!! What tha' ! Turns out my lovely little "helper" that "set me up" didn't do what I had asked and then also didn't tell me that my phone required a $9.99 a month data plan charge. I told them that had I known that I would not have changed!! So tomorrow I am going in to return $239.00 worth of cell phone, ear piece, charger and case. Goodness I love 30 day return policies, especially when I am t'd off!

On to bigger and better.

I love my family. Out of the blue today my husband called and told me that he loved me, that was it, just he loved me. It was a really nice surprise with the day that I was having.

'til later

Trouble chores and lots of work

So I have been working a lot less hours and being home a lot more. I am really kind of enjoying it! Matt is loving it, he gets to see mama a lot and I get him up and put him down every morning and night, I love it too! I am going to school full time this term and let me tell you I don't know how I am doing it but I am and so far so good, I have pretty good grades in my classes so far, lets hope I can keep it up.
I am really looking at my photography and what I want to do with it. I kind of feel stuck. I have things I want to do but because of financial inability I can't really grow with it, go figure right ;-) any who, I just feel stuck and am trying to get out of the rut.
Ally's glasses are wonderful! She is doing so good on her homework and her reading, she seems to be really excelling since she got her glasses.
So far so good!

'til later

I forgot...
Last night I posted this without the info on the trouble chores. Ally has been having some behavioral issues, such as yelling, back talking, attitude, almost the whole gamete and she isn't even a tween! Anyway after trying to talk to her, yell at her, ground her I have had it. This weekend she was the worst and I sat her down and explained that she was going to have trouble chores. Those are chores that need to be done but mommy doesn't want to have to do them, such as cleaning side boards, wiping down the walls, anything basically that I try to do last, like windows. Anyway, I digress, so one day Ally was absolutely horrendous and I was at my wits end. She did her chores, cleaning her room, dirty clothes that kind of thing, and then she had to do her trouble chore, clean the kitchen sideboards, all of them. They look wonderful!!

I have been doing this for a week now and she has had to do three of them, her attitude is really starting to change, thank goodness!!

'till later (lol)

Ally got glasses

Ya now how mother's have that "motherly sense"? well mine kicked in overdrive with Ally a few weeks ago and I decided that we should probably get Ally into see the eye doctor. John agreed and a couple of weeks ago I took her in with me for mine. When she saw the machines that they used she got a little scared so I went first and showed her how they worked.
They have one that puts a pouffe of air in your eye, I can't do that, I have tried it doesn't work and they have that noted (my eye is just a wussy), but Ally did it like a champ! So we did the beginning part and then it was time to go in with the doctor.

They had to put drops in my eyes to dilate them and I showed Ally what that meant. After my appointment the doctor got Ally into the chair and did the same routine with her, dilation and all. Come to find out Ally is "EXTREMELY" far sided and has a astigmatism. No kidding! The doctor asked why I thought Ally needed to come in and I said it was just an inkling I had.

So Ally has glasses and looks really cute with them on. Tonight we had our first homework assignment since getting them, she got them on Friday, and she read through it all with out a hitch! I am so happy, she seemed to have a great day today and she said she can read better now.

'till later

What a week.

Thursday while I was getting ready to go to school Ally came running in saying that the washing machine was on fire. I obviously went into action and what it was was an electrical fire. Nothing was damaged and I was able to solve the problem but our new problem was that we now had no washing machine and a lot of laundry. Well Saturday I took 5 loads over to my parents to wash after work and got them all washed. While I was washing clothes and doing homework a freind of mine called to see what I was up to and said I sounded a little beat. I told her what had happened and she screamed into the phone she had one that I could have for no charge! I am so extatic!! Yesterday John and I went and got it and I did seven loads of laundry and still have more to do, BUT I got our large comforter washed!!! YEAH!!!
'til later

Cookie time!

I signed Ally up for Girl Scouts right before the holidays and she is loving it. It is now cookie time and she had a BIG goal of 1000 boxes to sell. The adults that were at the last meeting tried to get her to come down a little bit so that she could set a goal and meet it to get a cookie badge. She and I talked and we got her set at a realistic goal, to be reached in 7 days, of 30 boxes. She met that and beat that in three days! I am so proud of her! She and I worked out what she needed to say when she asked.

This is what we came up with.

"Hi, my name is Ally and I am a Girl Scout Daisy. I am selling Girl Scout cookies. They are only four dollars a box. There are lots to choose from. Would you like to buy some?"

She came up with the only part. Guess I'm not the only seller in the family!

It is 11:03 pm and I just finished my math homework. On to Comp. science, gotta love it right?
Thursday we had a minor electrical burning/fire with our washing machine and it ate it. So today after working all day took laundry over to , my parents house to wash, five loads! Now I am drying them. I hope I can stay awake to put them all through the dryer!

'til later

Remiss AGAIN in my posts', Sorry.

So it has been awhile since I posted. Christmas has come and gone, the beginning of a new year and school is back in session.
Last time I posted I was on pins and needles with knowing what my grades were. I am VERY Very HAPPY to say that I got an A in my psychology course and a B in my math! I am so happy with it. I have tried that class so many times and have literally failed it. Christmas came and we had a lovely day. Christmas morning we had grandmas and grandpa over, my mom and dad and my dad's mother. At 10 everyone came over, we had a wonderful breakfast and we all opened gifts. It was really relaxed and everyone had a great time.
After that is was time to go into "end" mode. I got the news that my store was closing on the 19Th. We were closed for business on the 29Th and cleaned out on the 30Th. I have been off work since then, only just returning to work today.
I am down about the closing of my store, however I understand why and support it if it means that people won't loose their jobs. I am back to working at the McMinnville store and it seems a bit odd. I am not familiar with the store and feel a little backwards there.

School is back in session, Ally is loving it and I feel that I just dove head first into a kiddie pool from a hundred feet up! My class schedule is full time and I just hope I can keep up.

We went to the eye doctor today and found out that Ally has to have glasses. She is EXTREMELY far sited and has a astigmatism. This explains a lot with her school work. She is really excited about it and I am a little apprehensive about it. I just don't want her to get called names and for her to loose them. I know it will be all good, but what do mom's do best?

So the New Year has come. Reflecting back on last years "resolutions", I still believe that it setting yourself up for failure, I made three. 1) Loose some weight, 2) pay off some medical bills, 3) do more outdoorsy stuff. I feel pretty confident in saying that I have achieved all three. I lost 37 pounds this year, payed off some of our biggest bills, and did some outdoorsy stuff. I am feeling pretty good!

This year I want to loose some more weight, I want to finish paying off our medical bills, I want to finish my degree with a 3.0, and I am going to make a list of 10 places I want to visit this year and do it.

I think that this is a pretty good list to try for and I feel confident that I am going to do it.

Tomorrow Ally is going to be spending the entire day with her Girl Scout troop having some fun. She is really happy and I am too. She has been so cooped up for the last couple weeks it will do her some good to get out.

Finally.
Last year has come and gone. The time for reflections is here and with that the regrets too. Don't look to the past to push forward but learn from the past to advance in all you do. The past is that, the past. The present is a gift from above and the future is what you make it to be.

Looking at the last year I have no regrets. I have learned a lot about myself and what I want in my life and for my life. Whatever this year brings I am ready, I hope.

'til later.