Evicted With Extreme Prejudice

The kids have been sick. It's been like slow-motion dominoes around here. One gets sick, I disinfect like crazy, a few days later the next one gets sick - rinse and repeat. With sick child number three the nurse told me to be sure to throw her toothbrush away once she has been on the antibiotics for 3 days. WHAT? HUH?
#1 - I can't BELIEVE I did not think of their toothbrushes sitting all together bumping each other and all rubbing on one tube of toothpaste.
#2 - I REALLY can't believe that none of the health officials dealing with us until now thought to mention this little tidbit about avoiding a recurrence of extremely contagious and raunchy strep throat!


Behold the streptobrothel...



A hotbed of communicable disease. This tenant has now been evicted from our property with extreme prejudice!



Meet the new tenants...









blessings on your day,

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm trying to work into a healthier lifestyle. Practically speaking, it's not realistic for me to think that I am going to be able to maintain a diet free of sweets and fats, sooooo I am working toward healthier alternatives that will actually satisfy and not just annoy me for having wasted my time on something I didn't like and did not take away my craving. Today I baked these cookies and I find them to be a good alternative to my favorite fresh out of the oven chocolate chip cookies. I actually feel full after having had 3.




WHAT? I had to taste-test them.

According to the recipe they are 80 calories each and have protein AND dietary fiber in them.

You can get the recipe here www.delish.com

My substitutions:
Light Brown Sugar instead of Brown Sugar (cause that's what I had on hand)
Diabeti Sweet instead of Granulated Sugar
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light (I like it, but it's only 37%) instead of Trans Fatfree vegetable oil spread (60% to 70% oil)
Whole Grain Wheat Flour instead of All-purpose Flour
Milk Chocolate Chips instead of Bittersweet (62% cacao) or semisweet chocolate chips (because I like them better and they are the same value)

Into The Light - A Series *edited*

I have started my 'feelings' post, and it is a monster. I need someone to reach into my brain, extract the details that are pertinent from every angle and then write them into a poignant, easy to read and understand, memorable forever blogger blogspot blog post. *coughs*jenster*coughs*hisgirl*coughs*gretchen*coughs*ggg*

Well anyway, HisGirl has been throwing down over at her place, just letting it all hang out 'in the light' and well, as I must do everything that she does, I am going to flip the switch too.

I am thinking it will be a series but not all deep and spiritual and relevant to others like HisGirl's writing always is, I am just going to show you the ugly and hope that by exposing myself, it will cause me to repent, change, grow, stop - or at least move in the direction of those actions. Feel free to gank my special made-by-HisGirl button and step into the light with me.

Here goes my first sunburn:

I hate going to the doctor. Really hate it. Most especially when parts of my body that are normally covered by clothing are involved. However, I would rather go to the doctor than go to the gym. Seriously. Even considering the high likelihood that the current state of my weight and diet could be responsible for some of the reasons I have to visit said doctor.

Wow! That worked immediately! I am leaving for the gym right now!

Not really. But I want to want to leave for the gym right now.

It's a start.

Becky left this insight that made me sit up and take notice. Snap.
Picking up the cross daily is much harder when we're out of shape spiritually speaking.

Neglected

Hi all! Sorry for neglecting you. It seems we all go through seasons where we are right on top of keeping everyone informed about our comings and goings, and visiting every one of our beloved blogs and commenting before we leave; and then seasons where we are not and do not. There is a LOT of neglect going on in my world these latest days. Of course you can put that down to completely losing the use of my right hand for 2 weeks, and to still having to use it with care. You could. And it would be true to a good extent. Over these past couple of weeks, I have had a post brewing in my head about feelings. Specifically being a slave to my feelings. Emotional feelings, intuitive feelings, how I feel physically; and really seeing how these feelings rule my life and my choices. I'm not going to write about it today because I am still pondering - but one of these days, when I feel like it ~ I will. :)
Today I want to show you an example of the neglect, and what I did about it!

We have had a series of lovely days, cool and sunny with low humidity - and today is one of those days. It is also a day that I have an open schedule until it is time to make dinner and then head off to rehearsals and the Ash Wednesday service at church. I of course, came straight to my computer this morning (typing with TWO hands btw) and spent a good deal of time trying to get into the mood to do something else. Chatted with HisGirl about my options for the day and hers (sadly, none of which include us meeting for chai or shopping together) and finally purposed to stop feeling and start doing. Rosebushes it is!

In our front yard, we are working on a stone path and are lining that path with rosebushes. The whole thing is overgrown; well, what of it that is finished anyway. Here are my poor, negelected rosebushes....




Here are the tools for today's project....(that box is for the weeds and clippings - it is from the canister lights that hubby is installing in the kitchen!!)





Here are the rosebushes now.....




Man that feels good.

P.S. - I got interviewed today over at Jewels In My Crown...Someday
that felt good too.

It's A Big Day

Today is it. THE day. It's time to get squished! Here's a small sampling of what I have to look forward to....

On the day of the examination, do not wear talcum powder, deodorant, lotion or perfume under your arms or on your breasts.

Do you think they'll be bothered by the giant bandaid currently stopping the gushing flow of blood from the mole I just sliced while shaving my pits?? And do you think that mammogram technicians have exceptionally thick nose mucous?

During mammography, a technologist will position the patient and image the breast. The breast is first placed on a special cassette and gently compressed with a paddle (often made of clear Plexiglas or other plastic). This flattens the breast so that the maximum amount of tissue can be imaged and examined. Breast compression may cause some discomfort, but only lasts for a brief time during the mammography procedure.

This FLATTENS the breast? Fun.

The technologist will step behind a special shielded glass or may leave the room during x-ray exposure. The patient is asked to hold their breath and remain perfectly still for a few moments while the technologist makes the x-ray picture.

Are there people who can actually move while their breast is flattened between a 'cassette' and a 'paddle'?

I'll let you know.

Also, today begins "The game".....more to come on that.

And don't forget to scroll down to my 200th post!

Here I Am ~ Epic Post

"This will be a daily Hamper Scamper post."

HA!

How about ANY post AT ALL??
Just call me underachiever and let's all move on. Shall we? I have been doing fairly well keeping up with the chores, and my family has been good about helping too. Things are starting to feel more normal around the house and a lot has happened since I last posted.

*TMI warning*

My Dad came for a lovely visit and we all spent many days in heated and mostly good-natured battle at various card, board and Wii games. He took my son fishing and even caught some catfish. Thankfully the farm where they caught the fish did all the fish preparation and they brought home only the fillets. Then my Dad taught us how to cook and eat the fish. I tried a bite, decided that it tasted like this fish ate dirt and that was enough for me. This is a picture of my Dad from his visit. As you can see he is a camera hog. Really loves having his picture taken.

I managed to get to Worship Team and Choir rehearsals at FUMC(and my Dad went too!) and am back on track finally (at least for now) serving both services and loving it.

I had my girly appointment with the girl who would be my favorite doctor if she were, say, my podiatrist. Sadly, she is my specialty Gynecologist and so she therefore, by default, cannot be my favorite. She asked me if there was any change and I said no. She allowed me to tell her excitedly how through the telling to you all of my gynecological history I came upon the realization about the catheter installation possibly being related to my current ailment and she grinned at me and gave me that look that people give me when they see my zeal and are afraid if they don't make nice, a limb of mine might fly off or something. I am so excited and I say, "So....I think if we just cauterize the thing or something like that and get it over with, then I can go on my merry way ~ happily ever after." She became a little less shiny in my eyes when she replied, "I would like you to go see the specialist." He is a gynecologist with urological background (or something like that) we'll call him my urogyno just for fun. She says he'll probably want to take a look inside the bladder with a camera. *jumping off the highest point of the Grand Canyon in my imagination* That, my friends, is called a Cystoscopy. It is a nasty business; humiliating, embarrassing, disgusting, uncomfortable, humbling, and strangely fascinating ~ that you have to be awake and un-numbed for. I tried to defend my personal space by pointing out that my Urologist had already done this procedure and that I could personally vouch for the interior of my bladder being in tip-top, working condition. I saw it after all. On the TV. In.real.time. She said, "Yes, I know. But Dr. Urogyno will want to see for himself."
I know that a good doctor will want to see my history and read what all the other invaders doctors have tried, tested, poked, prodded and postulated and then will want to do these things for his/her own self. And it truly is my prayer that he is a competent doctor who will have the diagnosis AND the solution right there in his Urogyno brain. But secretly, in a little corner of my tender little heart, I want him to say, "I know from reading your file that you need to take this one little pill. One time. It will heal the tip of your crazy little Urethra. It will not make you gain weight. In fact, it will make you lose weight. All of the extra you have, but not one pound more. Losing that weight will cause your breasts to once again be perky, yet voluptuous, and not one bit saggy. And also, it will make it so you never have to have another well-woman exam again in your life. Cause after all, you have no cervix and no uterus."
But that's just me.
I asked her if she could please prescribe me something to help me sleep and she agreed. Also, she made me have the whole pelvic, breast exam. And as a parting gift gave me the order to schedule my first, baseline Mammogram. Oh the absolute rapture. Maybe I can get it the day before or the day after seeing Dr. Urogyno just so I can have a fun-packed week. Perhaps I will start some sort of count ~ how many strangers can touch parts of me that I tell all my children never to let strangers touch! Okay ~ maybe nobody would be interested in that. At least nobody I really want to associate with. She told me that she had called and tried to put in the referral but was told by TriCare that I have to go to my Primary Care Manager to get the referral approved. That usually means being 'seen' by a doctor, in other words ~ examined ~ so that they can say, "Yes indeed, she should go see the specialist for an exam." But God stepped in and provided mercy for me and I was able to get the referral approved through mere begging phone calls. Hallelujah! Perhaps this week I will get the letter and I can make my appointment. Did I mention that I have to drive 3 hours one way to go see Dr. Urogyno?

So, the renovations to the east wing are mostly done. What we're working on now is finish work. Last sanding, one more coat, trim and the like. I can start posting pictures for you now if you'd like ~ or you can wait until it is completely finished. You just let me know your preference. I am really loving the change I must say. When we completely complete the east wing renovations, we will begin on the west end of the house which includes the master bedroom. We are still trying to figure out if we can improve the bathrooms without actually adding on to the house. (We hate roofing! ~ to prove it, I'll show you a picture of my misery roofing this house....)


What else has been going on? The price of gas and plane tickets! Geez. GGG and I have decided that this year we will be road tripping to Chicas of Faith. It's about 1400 miles. I can't understand why everyone I discuss this with gets that 'oh geez! her limb is going to fly off' look. We have an unfair disadvantage as the worship leaders; we travel with our instruments. You have to pay for your luggage people. So, we automatically have TWO suitcases to pay for. GGG showed off in one of her recent posts about how she bought a new backpacker. The hater. However, nothing compares to your full-size, rich sounding, favorite guitar. Just nothing. We will be driving through some absolutely beautiful country in the midst of my favorite season. Plus, if we can actually pull it off without turning me into a complete lunatic(traveling beats me down) - we will get extra days of fellowship together. (I mean - the Cali girls all get to travel together, why shouldn't we?) And maybe, if she brings her backpacker too - we can rehearse in the car on the way to PA. I have already put in the request to my husband to trick out my little trailer to carry our luggage, and also to make improvements to my sound system to make my minivan bumpin'.

My brother is still very ill and still very much in need of your prayers for his salvation. He has been in the hospital for a week and says he nearly had to have his arm amputated due to an infection associated with his dialysis. He is lonely and frightened and lacks control over what is going on with him. He needs a Savior. As we all do.

I apologize to you that I have not only not been commenting on your posts, I have barely so much as lurked. I promise you that I do think of you daily. I am still going crazy, although as I said before, things are improving, and I really am doing the best I can. School starts again in a couple of weeks and we will be back into a regular routine. More progress. Praise the Lord.