Your typical update post

You know that it has been too long since your last blog entry when you have to pull out the trusty "Update Post". So, where do I begin? Well, Baby Boy is up to 9 lbs 8 oz and is off of his Enfacare formula and on regular Enfamil. Yes, I said formula. Sigh. My blood pressure was too high and I had to remain on medication (still am), so all that I could do was "pump and dump". It was just too much for me - it seemed like all that I was doing was pumping and feeding him. I needed to sleep and take care of the rest of my family and myself. I gave in and just went all formula. Am I disappointed? Yes. Do I regret it? No. Sometimes the choices that we have to make aren't always easy. Life goes on, and the boy is doing well in spite of my tough call. It's just better for us all this way.

It seems that our precious little baby boy has been blessed with three mothers. My girls just adore and love to help take care of him. Um, except during diaper changes. They just let mom handle those. I am so proud of them for how they have handled everything that has happened these last few months. I am truly blessed.

Baby boy is doing incredibly well despite being only 32 weeks at birth. He passed his developmental screenings with flying colors and we don't have to go back again until he is 6 months old. He has to have monthly Synagis shots to prevent complications from the RSV virus until March or April, and they are monitoring his right eye because he has a blood clot that may or may not dissolve on its own. But even the blood clot is a little thing compared to the complications that we could have faced. God is good.

I can't seem to start saying "No" to things at my kid's school. My secret hope is that they will stop asking me for help once I start horribly messing things up because I am too busy and sleep deprived to be able to do a good job. Hey, a girl can dream......

And just in case anyone thinks that I forgot - Now is the time to order your seeds!! Yes, I plan to continue to garden. I even have plans to expand the garden this spring. This is the year that my older girls will have to learn how to do more in the garden. They WANT to learn and they love to help. I'd be crazy to not take advantage of it. It will teach them a skill that they can have for life - just like my Dad did for me. They will feel like they are contributing to the family. And they will get to spend time with their Mom. What more could they ask for? If you would like to order seeds I highly recommend Vesey's. I'll have to give you more info about what I am ordering on a later post. It seems that naptime is over for Baby boy and feeding time has begun.

In case I don't get back here before Christmas, I hope that everyone reading this has a Merry and Blessed Christmas!!!!

I'm still here.....

Just busy. I was also locked out of blogger for a little while because it wouldn't accept my password. But I am back on now, so I have some catching up to do. Hopefully I'll have a post up later this week!

Not too shabby, I guess....

Movie Reviews

I'm really not trying to re-write my college thesis here on this blog, so at first I thought that this wasn't too shabby of a classification for an informal blog. Then I started thinking about all of the current high school students that I know and THEN I remembered how I was in high school. Suddenly, this rating didn't seem as stellar as it was before. Oh well, at least I'm having fun. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year, I am thankful that I am not cooking the Thanksgiving dinner for the first time in about 10 years. Ha Ha!! Just kidding. Well, I really am not cooking the dinner for the first time in 10 years, but that is not all that I am thankful for. I AM thankful for my wonderful DH and children, family and friends, my health even though it just isn't what it used to be, a nice roof over my head, nice cars to drive even though it has become painfully obvious to me that we now need a minivan (lol!), good food on my table, nice clothes to wear, my hubby's job that seems stable in this unstable time, and all of the other incredible blessings that I just don't have time to name and I surely don't deserve but have been given to me anyway solely by the grace of God.

I hope that you all have many things to be thankful for in this life. May you be richly blessed and have a wonderful holiday!

Easy Recipe

I really haven't had much, um, spare time lately. I have been blessed with a sweet, good natured little boy. But he did start out VERY little and as a result he needs to eat very frequently. No biggie, but the rest of the family needs to eat too so I have had to give myself a little break from my made-from-scratch-as-much-as-possible recipes since i have to spend lots of time feeding the mini one. I console myself with the fact that infancy is a fleeting moment in time and by next year I will be marveling at how big he is. But until then, I have to rely on a little convenience food Monday - Friday so that I can keep everyone fed.

I tried this recipe last night, and I do admit that is was incredibly tasty even though it probably isn't the best for you. And my kids and hubby loved it. I'm going to keep it in my recipe file, but in the future I will probably substitute fresh apples for the pie filling and homemade stuffing for the boxed. But with only three ingredients, this is a great recipe on those nights when time is a bit tight.

Pork Chops with apples and stuffing

1 pkg Stove Top stuffing mix for chicken (I used pork because I had it on hand)
1 can apple pie filling
6 boneless pork loin chops (1 1/2 lb), 3/4 inch thick

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare stuffing as directed on package.
Spread pie filling onto the bottom of 13 x 9 inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Top with chops and stuffing. Cover with foil
Bake 30 min. Uncover. Bake an additional 10 min or until chops are cooked through (160 degrees F).
Enjoy!

From the Kraft Food and Family Magazine, Fall 2008

Happiness is.....

a sweet, snuggly baby sleeping on your chest.

And it also makes it easier to accept the fact that you are getting nothing done around the house.

To our baby:

I love all types of music, but metal does pump throught my veins. I can't help it, it's just who I am. When I held my son in my arms for the first time, this was the song that I immediately thought of. I'm sure that I'll play it for him someday just so that I can embarass him. :)

My Little Man
[O.Osbourne - S.Vai]

Don't You Know I Love You More
Than Life Itself
Don't You Know That You're My Pride
And I Would Not Have You
Walking Through This World
Without Me By Your Side

Go To Sleep My Little Man
Don't You Weep My Little Man

I'd Like To Keep You With Me
All Your Life,
But I Know I Can't Do That
So I Must Try To Teach You
Wrong From Right,
To Keep The Vultures From
Your Back

Go To Sleep My Little Man
Don't You Weep My Little Man

And When You're Dreaming
You Can Talk To Angels
So Wipe The Tears From Your Eyes
And If There's Demons
That Try To Steal Your Breath Away
You Can't Believe That, Know,
My Spirit Will Be Standing By
Your Side

You Saved Me, You Gave Me
The Greatest Gift Of All
Believe Me, Believe
There Ain't No Mountain That's Too Tall
I Will Gladly Carry Your Cross
For You
To Take Your Pain Away
But What I Can't Carry Is My Love
For You,
Beyond My Dying Day

So Be Strong My Little Man
When I'm Gone My Little Man
You Got To Be My Little Man
So Don't You Weep My Little Man
Go To Sleep My Little Man
Don't You Weep My Little Man
You Got To Be My Little Man
So Don't You Weep My Little Man

Hear it Here

Go Vote!

Cuz I cant since I can't drive yet after my c-section. That's one of the only drawbacks for me with c-sections.

But I digress.... Hubby went back to work yesterday so it is just me and baby boy while the kids are in school. I'm kinda busy but I wanted to report that the boy is up to 5 lbs 4 ounces already! I am so happy! And now I must go feed him again so he will grow even more.

First Doctor's Visit

Yesterday was Baby Boy's first Dr's appointment since he came home. The whole family went along - my hubby, me, the baby, and his two other mothers. Oops, I meant to say his two big sisters but they are acting like such little mothers that I got confused. They dote on his every whimper and are such good helpers. I am very proud of them! They really love their brother - for now, anyway. ;)

Baby Boy is doing quite well. He is up to 4 lbs 7.5 ounces, a gain of 6 ounces since he was discharged on Saturday. Last night he only woke up once at 2:45am, took a bottle, got the hiccups, and went back to sleep. I was very grateful for the sleep that I got too. He is such a sweet and mellow boy right now. He's just such a laid back dude in spite of everything that he went through that I am totally amazed and THANKFUL! It's a joy to take care of him. Boy, I hope it stays this way!! :)

DH goes back to work next week so I get my first real tests of motherhood with three kiddos. Wish me luck. I'm getting worried, but we'll muddle through.

Let's hear it for the boy

Our baby isn't coming home until tomorrow, but he should hopefully put on a bit more weight. Every ounce makes me feel better. He has grown a whole inch in two weeks! He is now 18 inches long. The last three weeks or so have been a blur and I will be so glad to bring our baby home.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and wished us well. Your thoughts and prayers mean so much to me. Sorry I haven't answered you all personally. It's been a bit crazy here. Please just know that I read all of your messages and am very thankful.

Yay!!

Quick Update: Baby Boy has made over the 4 lb. mark ~ 4 lbs 1 oz to be exact. We should be able to bring him home from the NICU in a few short days. I have to hurry and prepare because he kinda caught us off guard by coming almost 8 weeks early. I'm so excited!!

Oh Boy!!!

Wow!! Where do I begin? Let's start back in the beginning of October. My ob was on vacation, but he knew that I was going in a bad direction in my pregnancy so he gave me an order to have a non-stress test at the hospital while he was gone. On October 8th, I dropped the kids off at school and decided on the spur of the moment to go over to the hospital and get my non-stress test out of the way. I didn't want to go. I really wanted to go home and start getting ready for the baby by cleaning out some drawers while lying on my right side. But SOMETHING made me go - a nagging voice that said "Just go and get it over with". So I did.

They got me into the NST room and took my blood pressure. Then they took it again. Then the told me to lie on my left side and do the NST and they would check it again after they talked to the Dr. that was filling in for my OB. So, I laid there trying to calm down and take the test. After the test they came in and took my BP again. Good news!! It came down a little during the test - to 180/100. I wasn't going home. They were admitting me into the hospital. Before I knew it, I was being rushed down the hallway into my hospital room. The put me in a gown, hooked me up to magnesium sulfate, catheterized me, gave me a steroid shot (for development of the bay's lungs) and brought up an ultra sound machine. Somewhere during this whole sideshow I was able to make a teary call to my husband, who I didn't even get the chance to tell that I was going in for a NST test because I really wasn't planning on doing that day. Boy, was he shocked!!! Especially when he got there during the ultrasound and we found out that we were probably having a BOY!!!!! So there I was, nearly hysterical already because I knew that they were probably going to have to deliver me very early, finding out that we were now going to have a boy instead of a girl. We won't discuss what my BP readings were while all of this commotion was going on. Let's just say that they kept asking me to lie VERY STILL.

They ran a 24 hour protein test. They kept me in bed, very still, while taking my bp every hour and a nurse in the room almost constantly. They consulted a perinatologist (SP?), kept the magnesium sulfate flowing, and limited my food. After 48 hours and two shots to help out the baby they KNEW that I had to deliver. My 24 hr protein test contained over 1 ltr of protein - 1,092 to be exact. I was the big excitement on the floor. The consider a protein reading of over 300 to be very severe pre-eclampsia. Here I had just calmly strolled into the hospital with a count of over 1,000 and I was talking and joking. But my kidneys were giving out even though I was trying to be a model patient. They had to deliver my baby at 32 weeks gestation for the good of both me and my unborn son. I was so scared, but I couldn't cry because I found out the hard way that magnesium sulfate gets in your tears and burns when you cry. So I prayed.

My incredible son was born at 3:10 pm on Friday, October 10, 2008 via emergency c-section. He was 3 lbs, 14 oz and 17 inches long!! And he is doing GREAT!! He is so amazing that I can't even begin to describe it. And he is probably coming home from the NICU this Friday! He has been totally beating the odds. The nurses just marvel at him and how well he is doing. God is so good.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. I hope to have a better version of this story up soon, because this experience TOTALLY reminded me that God is GOOD and he is with you always. I am very lucky and very blessed.

Take care, and I hope to update soon.

Uh oh......

I'm no stranger to pre-eclampsia. I had a moderate case of it with my first DD, but lucked out with my second DD due to a wonderful case of almost pneumonia that knocked my blood pressure right down and kept it there for the remainder of my pregnancy. I'm now 30 weeks along and I was doing great in the blood pressure department (I was running about 120/70 or so), but that suddenly and drastically changed about 2 weeks ago. I am now grounded to - stop me if you've heard this on e before - lying on my left side for most of the day. If I sit up for any length of time, my BP shoots up to about 180/95 give or take a few points and I have trace protein that my ob is worried will get worse quickly if I don't take it easy. Taking it easy is something that does not come naturally for me, so I have been a bit bored. My hubby has promised me that he is getting me a laptop so that I will have something to do while I lay around on my left side for the next hopefully 7 weeks (or, God willing, 8 or 9 weeks) until I can safely deliver. Don't worry - Mom and baby are going to be just fine. I've been down this road before. I just know from my past experience that it is a long and boring trip when you just lay on your left side all day. :)

Anyway, I just wanted to post a little update for everyone. My 15 minutes of non-left side time are up so I must go. My postings may be a bit sporadic until I get that laptop. After that, you'll probably "see" alot of me because I'll have lots of down time to blog!! ;)

My 15 minutes

I have crazy luck. I can win silly things on the radio. I'm not sure if anyone out there listens to Relevant Radio, but if you were listening this morning to the last hour of their morning show "Morning Air" I was the lucky winner who played three questions. I think that my 15 minutes of fame are officially over now.

In case you are wondering, here is what I won:
Ships without a Shore by Anne R. Pierce

And if you really want to hear what I sound like when I am really tired and fighting off a cold, you can go to the Morning Air web page and listen to the show archives. I was on during the last hour at apx 8:40 AM or so. Boy, was I nervous and tired so I am sure that I sounded great. (Note heavy sarcasm!)

I really wanted to win today because I heard the author talking about this book on the air while I driving my girls to school. I never expected to, though, so I was rather shocked when the radio station answered the phone and told me that I was the right caller. And this was not the first time that I have won something on Relevant Radio. I have won a coffee mug and a copy of David Curry's book "Rapture: The End Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind" That is a fantastic book! I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested. My 10 year old daughter has also won "Three Questions" and she received a wonderful package from Great Harvest Bread Company. I don't know why we keep winning. I'm starting to feel guilty but I really can't wait to receive this book!

Have a great day everyone!

I'm so behind!

Wow! What can I say. I am a bad,bad blogger. School has moved into high gear and our Hot Lunch program has started back up so it's back to work for the KitKat. Somewhere during the last week or so I think that I completely lost myself. Between school, work, a downstairs bathroom remodel, and our upcoming Family Fest fundraiser for the school (Of which I am the head of advertising. Silly me!) I have been a bit busy.

But the good news is that we now have 2 complete bathrooms, so my husband finally has his own shower after 10 years of waiting. And construction is over, so I finally have my house back after what seemed like endless weeks of having someone over working on the bathroom. Now I should be able to get us back to normal fairly quickly. All of the hassle was worth it, but it is just so nice not to have to worry about the ruckus anymore.

I am behind on some blog things. Some nice readers have left some nice thing for me over on their blogs, so I need to try to catch those up. Thanks so much for thinking of me. You guys always make me smile. :)

I'm off to start post construction clean up and go to a Family Fest committee meeting tonight. Yay! Our Family Fest is on September 13 & 14th, so this part is almost over and I won't have to worry about it anymore.

Have a great night!!!

Zucchini Fritters

This recipe was left for me in my comment section a few posts below this one by a sweet reader named Angie. The recipe is SO GOOD that I just had to move it up here to its own post in order to do it justice. Even my hubby, who only eats zucchini bread, loved it. So I have to send a big "Thank you" out to Angie for expanding my zuchinni options and encourage the zucchini shy folks out there to try this recipe. It is very, very good.

(Angie, I hope that you don't mind me doing this. If so, please let me know and I will remove this post. This is a great recipe! My kids gobbled them up and asked for more.)

Zucchini Fritters
1/3 cup biscuit mix
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups shredded zucchini, unpeeled
butter or margarine

Stir together biscuit mix, Parmesan cheese and pepper. Stir in beaten eggs just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in zucchini.

Melt butter in a skillet, spoon zucchini mixture in like you are making pancakes. Cook until browned on both sides. You can serve these with a little bbq sauce, but my favorite condiment with them is ranch dressing.

Cravings

I am not usually one who craves crazy things when I am pregnant. But I must say, if I never had to eat anything other than any type of Mexican food and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream I would be one very happy preggo momma. My family seems to want a bit more variety, so I am forced to concede to their wishes. They have no idea how much I love them.

I passed, and now I will make a roast

I passed my glucose test today! It was a bit nervous just because my Hashimoto's Disease makes me more prone to complications. But I have been enjoying good health with this pregnancy, so I figured that I would be fine.

I hate the glucose test. It was especially yucky for me today because I couldn't take my thyroid meds until after the test. I need to eat about an hour after I take them (and I take them at 6 am), but my dr appt wasn't until 9:30am and I needed to do at least a 12 hour fast before the test. I was so tired without my medication and so hungry without food that I went straight for McDonald's after the test. And I HATE McDonald's. To add insult to injury, their debit/credit card machine was out of order so I had to cancel my order and go to Burger King where I stood in line for 10 minutes waiting for someone to take my order. I never eat fast food. Now I know why.

So, I am a bit tired today because the delay of taking my meds and the blood sugar shake up kind of wore me out. I am cheating for dinner with my hubby's favorite pot roast recipe. It's so good and so easy! It's not organic, uses nothing from the garden, and is probably pretty bad for you. But we all have those days, right? Just in case you ever want to be bad, here is the recipe:

French Onion Pot Roast
__________________________________________
1 Beef Pot roast apx 3 - 4 lbs (or smaller works fine too)
1 can condensed french onion soup mix
1 box savory herb stuffing mix
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Brown the pot roast in a bit of olive oil and season to taste (I use a bit of pepper, garlic, and Italian Seasoning. I recommend skipping the salt because of the high sodium content of, um, all of the other ingredients.) Put the pot roast into your crock pot and pour the french onion soup on top. Cook on high for about 3 - 4 hours. Add the stuffing mix (sprinkle on top of the roast and do not mix in) and continue cooking on high for another 1 -2 hours. Add the shredded mozz cheese and cook until cheese is melted. Remove from crock pot and serve. I like to serve this with some carrots and a big huge salad to remove some of my guilt.

I try to cook healthy as much as humanly possible. But life happens sometimes. Now I can try to regroup myself after running around while dead tired, maybe get something done around the house, and still have a hot dinner waiting for my hubby that he loves. We can splurge on the bad stuff every once in awhile, right?

I'm going to go lay down for a bit and then do some laundry. Have a great day!!

How to make fresh tomato sauce

Just 4 easy steps!!

Step 1: Walk out to your garden to pick some fresh, red, delicious tomatoes to use for your sauce.

Step 2: Remember half way there that you forgot to grab your basket. Opt to not go back and grab it. Real gardeners don't need no stinkin' basket. Right.

Step 3: Grab as many fresh, juicy, ripe tomatoes as your hands can hold. Then grab more. Because you don't want to have to walk back out to the garden to get more. Just REALLY load up.

Step 4: Attempt to leave the garden, but trip over an air molecule. Catch yourself enough to prevent bodily injury but not enough to prevent smashing all of those red, ripe, and juicy tomatoes all over the front of your shirt.

To add extra flavor, jump up and look around to make sure that nobody saw you. Then notice that your neighbor, who could really use a laugh, saw it all and is attempting to make sure that you are ok without bursting into a fit of uncontrollable laughter.

Yes, this really did happen. I think that my garden is mad at me for having a bad year so it is now seeking it's revenge.

Zucchini?!?

It has been my worst garden year EVER. I am so unimpressed with myself that I can't even bear to blog about it. Then this guy named "Murphy" decided to walk into my garden with his goofy laws. You see, my neighbor gave me two small zucchini plants last spring. I planted them just because I can't bear to see a plant die, but my hubby doesn't like zucchini for anything other than bread. Just for fun, take a guess at what is ready for harvest. If you said zucchini you'd be 100% correct. It's almost like someone is playing a cruel joke on me. Almost everything else in my garden stinks this year except for the one thing that my hubby hates. Darn Murphy and his laws! I am so not amused.

As always, someone has said

everything that I feel about motherhood in a much better way than I could ever dream of. Shannon, from Rocks in my Dryer, has a wonderful post about Great Things.

When I was a college student I was going to graduate, have a fabulous career, and change the world of psychology. I wasn't going to have children. My how my life has changed! And I wouldn't have it any other way.

Let the countdown begin

By the time I have this post up it will be about 48 hours until I have to pack my kiddos up in the car and take them to their first day of school. Lots of my mom friends are incredibly happy that this day is finally almost here. I, in the most pathetic way, am very sad. I will miss my kids and I will miss the days where we were able to learn and get things done without being on someone else's timetable. I think often of homeschooling. But then I think again. I know that my children are receiving a fantastic education. And as a former student of that awful liberal art known as psychology I also know that it is incredibly valuable for my children to learn things from people other than me. My ultimate job as a parent is to turn them into proper functioning adults. I really doubt that I could achieve this goal by homeschooling them. I smother, I baby, I am quick to spare them the pains of life. It's my most primitive mothering instinct. I am a momma bear. Now don't get me wrong, I am fully able to stand on the sidelines and watch them go through the emotional and physical pains of childhood. I only try to step in when the need it. I try to be the voice of reason. But it is so hard, and I think that the act of letting them go to school away from me is the way that I am able to accomplish this.It is a process of letting go and growing up for ALL of us. No one ever told me how hard it would be to let them go after you carried them and cared for them. But it has to be done. And for me, it has to be done this way. Sigh.

I have very fond memories of my school days, especially grade school. My grade school was a small private school that was filled with fantastic staff. I still remember the name of every teacher that I had even though I graduated from that school over 22 years ago. I learned so much from them, more than just reading and writing. My hubby and I hope to accomplish the same thing with our children, and that is why we make the large financial sacrifice and send them to a private school too. They are very happy there, they get a great education, and they have a great social support network that extends beyond just the children who attend there. Our choice of education has so many advantages for our family. But I still dread the first day of school.

(Disclaimer: I'm not saying that any one method of education is better than another. Homeschoolers are great! It just won't work for us so we go the private school route.)

Well, it is time for me to quit bellyaching and get moving. I have to go get a blood test today (TSH, t3, t4), clean the car and house, go shopping, and be back by 4:30 so that the tile guy can work on the bathroom.

Tomatoes!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I apparently can't grow much besides babies when I am pregnant. But I sure can grow tomatoes right now. I wonder if there is some odd connection. Tomatoes are round....I'm getting pretty round, and red too because I am so darn hot. Oh, who knows! But I have to run out to my garden and water and pick a whole bunch of tomatoes. Big toms, tiny tims, super sweet 100's, and romas are all coming in right now. And on my stove top sits a beautiful pot of homemade marinara sauce made from my big toms and romas that I whipped up for dinner tonight. This is the one bright spot in my pretty dim garden. Oh well, there's always next year.

Well, I have to go water and spiff up the house before the tile guy gets here to do the bathroom floor. I forgot to mention that we are finally finishing our second bathroom (after being in this house for 10 years!) so that my hubby can have some sort of manly refuge when the baby gets here. Or at least a bathroom that isn't occupied in a house with 4 women. My poor hubby!!

Have a great day and weekend!

Why do I do this to myself?

And why can't I just say "no"?

My neighbor who lives behind me called and asked me to watch her kids for her. Her THREE children. Her THREE children that do not behave in the same manner as my children do. Now, I am not saying that her children are bad. They are just different. I am a very mellow person. So are my children. I am very blessed in that way. God gave me just the kind of children that I need and can handle considering my personality and illness (Hashimoto's Disease). My neighbors children make me want to drink. ALOT. They are much more, um, creative and energetic than my own children. When my children get creative and unruly, it consists of putting barbies in their toy car and rolling them down the slide. When my neighbors kids get unruly, it consists of throwing large rocks to see if they leave a mark on my nice white pvc fence. They give me twitches. I just cannot handle it. But I still said "Yes, I'll watch them for you." And not just for an hour or two. But for TWO WHOLE DAYS. God help me. I need a spine. Sometimes I hate myself.

Where has the time gone?

Did you ever just wake up one morning and feel like an entire month or season or whatever has gone by and you completely missed it? That is what I have been feeling like this whole week. I just realised that my children have to be back in school by the 20th of this month. Now please understand, I KNEW that they went back on the 20th, but I just didn't really grasp how incredibly close we actually are to that day. Does that make sense? Good, I'm glad that you guys understand it because I am still a bit dazed by the concept. Where did the summer go? The last time I checked, it was the 4th of July and I still had a month and a half of relaxing summer fun left to enjoy. Oh well, I guess all good things must end and now I have to get the kids ready to go back to school and myself ready to go back to work. Sigh.

I actually ventured out to my garden the other day. I have a sad confession to make. Apparently I don't garden well while pregnant. I might have something to do with me being physically challenged to bend, move, breathe, etc. (I am quite an ungraceful pregnant woman!) It might have something to do with the lousy gardening weather that we have had all season long. I really just don't know anymore. All I know is that I am going to be making a ton of marinara sauce this fall because tomatoes are about the only things that are growing well for me. I am going to plant some more rows of carrots, some spinach, and some peas. I'll see what else I feel like doing, but I just feel like a dismal failure this season. But every true gardener always knows that there is always next year, so I am already planning what seeds I am going to start in February. No sense in dwelling on failures. Look to the future instead. Hey, it works for me.

I am off to wash school uniforms and clean my house. I have one more glorious week to enjoy with my children before it's back to the old school grind. I intend to enjoy every minute of it. Hope that you do too!

Here's a hint......

We never found out what we were having before our babies were born with our first two daughters. I much prefer the surprise in the delivery room. But this time, I am feeling a bit too old for surprises so we decided to go ahead and find out what we are having. Because it just pains me to make the "official announcement" before the baby is actually born, I am leaving you all a clue about whether we are having a girl or a boy. Care to take a guess?? ;)

Update

I was taking a bit of a bloggy break this week, but I wanted to take a moment to update those who may have been praying for my neighbor's baby.

Baby Matthew passed away quietly in his loving mother's arms on Monday, July 28. He was such a little fighter. They told M & J that he would only last for 2 days, but they got to have him for almost 2 weeks. It was still much too short of a time, but long enough for him to be loved enough for a lifetime. He was 10.5 pounds at birth, and his daddy said he would have been a linebacker. He had blond hair and blue eyes, like his mommy. He will be greatly missed by his Mom, Dad, family and friends.

M is doing okay, about as good as you can expect for a Mother who has lost her baby. She is eating and sleeping, which is good considering her health issues. She is grief stricken, but she knows that her baby is in a better place. I pray constantly that her heart heals someday. I wish that I could find a way to ease her pain, even just a little. But I know that is impossible. Only time and God can do that. J seems strong, but incredibly sad and a bit angry too. The hospital and doctors won't give them a straight answer about what happened. They never do. I found that out with my first DD. But M & J will get through this together. He even spoke of them maybe trying to have another baby, someday. They deserve to be happy and to be parents. They are wonderful people.

Thank you all for your prayers. M & J knew that so many people were praying for them. They felt it, and that makes all the difference in the world when you are in a situation like that. Prayer has great power, and God is good in ways beyond our understanding.

Hubby's vacation!

My DH is taking his last pre-baby vacation time this week, starting with a work from home day tomorrow. YAY! His next vacation will be a working vacation (he'll be working for me, ha ha!!!) in December after the baby is born to help me get back on my feet. We are going to take advantage of his time off now and the warm weather to enjoy some good old-fashioned family fun, so I will probably be a little scarce this week on my blog.

Thank you all for your kind words! Baby Matthew is thankfully still holding his own in NICU, although he has not improved. I appreciate all of your thoughts and your tolerance of my rants.

Have a GREAT week! I plan to.........

Eureka!

First of all, Baby Matthew is still hanging in there even though the doctors told my neighbor and her hubby that he wouldn't last long at all and they should prepare for the worst. I am praying, praying, praying for this little baby. He is a fighter.

Second of all, I have been wandering around wondering what I could do to help my neighbor. Her and her hubby are staying at the hospital about 50 miles away. Because of the baby's medical situation, I would not be allowed to go back and visit him. And my going there to visit her would mean that she would have to come out and see me. She rarely leaves the baby's side, so expecting her to leave him to come out and see me just seems a tad inconsiderate on my part. So I've ruled out a visit. Her family is helping to care for their house while M & J are away at the hospital, so I really can't do that either. I was feeling like there wasn't much that I could do to let her know that I am thinking of them while they are gone.

Yesterday, I walked over to their house to pick up the local paper in their driveway and flyer on their door. I've been doing that because I don't want it to look like no one is home. When I went up on the front porch, I noticed that her flowers in her flower pots were dying. No one had been watering them. My neighbor M is a huge flower fan and vegetable gardener just like I am. Her flowers dying would be a bad thing. So I am going to water them for her and look over her pretty flower beds while she is away. Her Dad has been coming over to mow the lawn but he also wants to get back to the hospital to be with the family, so he hasn't been tending her flowers the way that M would. So I will be sneaking over to pull the weeds, water the flowers and such. No one ever needs to know that it was me, and this way she won't come home to a big mess. I think that I am also going to go back to her veggie garden and spruce it up a bit (a veggie garden left untended quickly goes bad), and maybe plant her fall crops for her. I'm going to stick with the easy ones for her to tend to and harvest: carrots, peas, beans, and such.

We both love our flowers and vegetables. I know that this probably seems like a silly little thing to most people, but I am hoping that this is something that I can do to help put a little bit of normal back into her life when she gets home. No big garden chores for her to catch up on, and flowers and vegetables waiting for her return. I know that it's not much, but I hope that it helps.

Angry

Please forgive me if my posts are not very happy for a bit. I am angry, and I want to let this anger go before I see my neighbor. I need to be supportive for her. It is her grief, not mine, and I do not want to make her feel worse by not controlling my own emotions. She needs love and support, not a stark raving lunatic pregnant woman who is pissed off because she views this tragedy as something that might have been prevented if the doctor had been a little less concerned about keeping his c-section rate down.

But I am angry. Very very Angry. I feel like they killed her baby, even though baby Matthew is still fighting for his life in NICU right now. My neighbor had no problem with delivering via c-section. All that she wanted was a healthy baby, and she didn't care how she delivered it. She knew that her diabetes made this baby a miracle for her, and she accepted the fact that it may be her only child. She didn't want to take any chances. She was in one of the best hospitals in the area, and not just our immediate area but in the entire state. Top notch care. Top notch care that kept a diabetic woman flat on her back in labor, hooked up to IVs and monitors, without real food and only ice chips to drink. But hey, she might have had the chance for a "normal delivery". Because a normal delivery always includes cervidil, pitocin, IVs, and being totally stuck in bed with a catheter. Yeah. I'm pissed that they treated her this way only to have her baby most likely die.

I have to make a disclaimer here. I am not anti-"normal" delivery. Although I am admittedly not it's biggest fan, I know plenty of women who had happy and healthy normal deliveries. But I am totally against what birth has become in a hospital setting. I have a friend who is a delivery room nurse. She said that pitocin is the most frequently used drug in the labor room, even during low risk deliveries. She said "Watch 'The Business of Being Born'. It really is accurate." She is not an advocate of home births, but more of birthing centers within a hospital setting with lots of midwives present. She is a big advocate of natural birth and not sticking a healthy laboring mother in bed with a pit bag. She is also a big advocate of not inducing a high risk mother. She has seen her fair share of "quiet births", and according to her most of the babies who died during the actual labor or delivery were attempts at inducing high risk mothers to deliver vaginally when their bodies weren't ready and couldn't take it. Her personal opinion is that scheduled c-sections should be used in high-risk cases, and natural delivery methods should be attempted with healthy mothers and babies. She also said that you never forget the screams of a mother who lost her baby unexpectedly during delivery.

My other disclaimer: I am not a doctor. I'm not giving any medical advice here, so please don't take it as such! I am just a pregnant mom with a friend who is losing a baby in a way that just seems so senseless and preventable to me.

I'm glad that women are pushing back on the medical establishment. We do need to take back our births. But we have to be careful not to go too far. Women and babies used to die during childbirth. Alot. I am thankful that we have technology to help prevent this. We need to be careful, though, to make sure that doctors don't use us as lab rats to prove that they try to keep their c-section rates low. C-sections do save lives. Were the c-section rates out of control for low risk mothers in years past? Absolutely! Do I think that lots of c-sections were caused by the way that hospitals confine and manipulate labor? You bet! But I also think that it is high time that the practice of induction in high risk mothers is re-evaluated. We have to STOP and think about what we put these women and babies through in order to achieve "natural" or normal vaginal births. I've been there, and I can tell you that it's not pretty. And I don't think that it is worth the risk of harm or death for the mother and baby.

These are just my thoughts. I am sure that many people will feel differently. I am going to leave my comments open, but please be nice and remember that I am not anti-vaginal birth, anti-home birth, or anti-hospital birth. There is a BALANCE out there, somewhere, where high risk mothers can get the attention that they need and where low risk mothers can avoid the meddling that often occurs in hospital settings today. I just long to find that balance. I think that it will save lives and give us our births back.

Please pray.......

If you feel so inclined, please pray for baby Matthew and his Mom and Dad. You can read the story in the post below this one. Thank you.

Why?

My neighbor and I have been pregnant together for the past 4 months. She was due July 25th, but she is a type 1 Diabetic and the baby was getting too large so they induced her. After 18 horrible hours of labor she was finally able to start pushing, but the baby's heart stopped during delivery. They weren't able to get her in for the emergency c-section fast enough, so the baby was deprived of oxygen for 15 minutes. They revived him, but it is not good....... My neighbor, who would have made a wonderful mother, is staying by her dying baby's side until the end. She won't even come home to change clothes or shower. My heart hurts so bad for her. I cannot imagine her pain.

I just found this out today. I knew that they hadn't been home for well over a week, and I knew that she was high risk so I have been very very worried. But I never expected this. I just wanted to see her get out of her car with her new baby in her arms. I wanted to sit in our driveway together and watch out babies play. I wanted to invite her over to our pool so that her baby could have it's first swim with mine. Now I can't do anything with her or for her except cry the tears that only a mother can cry for another mother who is losing her child. And pray. I have never felt pain like what she is going through right now, but I know the love that I feel for my children. Even the thought of losing them rips my heart out of my chest. I just cannot imagine what she is going through right now, a time of her life that was supposed to be so happy.

I am angry for her. I had awful pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant with my oldest DD. The induced me, just like they did my neighbor. I had over 18 hours of labor. pushing was horrible, and my baby got stuck with the cord wrapped around her neck 2 times. A pair of forcepts later (along with a major episiotomy, detached bladder, and various other physical harms done to me in the process) and my sweet little baby was pulled out silent, limp, and blue. They revived her, and she had not been that way long so my little blue baby is now a normal and healthy 10 year old. We were very very lucky. But this all could have been prevented if they would have given me a scheduled c-section instead of inducing me. The neighbor two doors down from us had a similar story (pre-eclampsia and induction), except they had to rush her in for an emergency c-section and the baby had been without oxygen for a bit longer. He is now physically normal but mentally behind his peers. I hear stories like this and it rips my heart out. We were all mothers with serious complications. Why, if the baby needed to come out, did they induce us? Why not just give us a scheduled c-section? We were not "normal healthy pregnancies". We were high risk. Yes, some doctors would consider my story a success. But was it? Is it stories like mine that keep these doctors pushing high risk mothers to attempt a vaginal delivery? I just wish that I could understand why they do this. My neighbor's baby probably wouldn't be dying in the hospital right now if they just would have given her the darn scheduled C!!! Now she ended up with a c-section anyway and a dying baby on top of it. Her body will heal, but her heart will always carry the pain. I'm just so mad. And sad. I can't type anymore.

Love is.....

telling your hubby about your giant bag of liquified potatoes in the trunk of your car, watching him laugh uproariously, and then having him hug you and say "That's why I love you, honey. You keep life interesting."

After all that, he went out and double checked the car just to make sure I didn't forget anything on THIS shopping trip. :)

Marriage = a constant series of checks and balances.

Let's play "Name that Smell"!

There are some things that happen to you that you can only tell a spouse or a trusted friend or relative. There are some things that you can only talk about on the semi-anonymity of your blog. Well, I am going to do both, but my blog readers get to hear about it first because I was much too embarrassed to tell my dear sweet hubby about it last night.

My regular readers (all 4 of you, lol!) may remember me talking about my Neon having a particular smell to it about a week ago or so. Well, after that post I took all of my junk out of it, opened the windows, steam cleaned it a bit, and used some febreeze. Problem solved, or so I thought. It's been pretty hot here (finally) over the last few days, so I've been staying out of my Neon with no air conditioning and just staying home. But a family has to eat, so a grocery store trip was inevitable. I opened the door to that little car yesterday and WOW! I knew something was wrong, wrong, wrong. My children started begging me not to make them ride in the car. "Please mommy can we take the Blazer? Please?!?! It has air conditioning and it doesn't smell." Yes folks, it was that bad. But the Blazer is out of service right now. (Bad driver's side door. It was flying open when I turned. Hubby fixed it to stay shut until the parts come in and we can take it to the shop but now you have to get in on the passenger side and climb over the center console in order to drive it. Not fun at 20 weeks pregnant!) I am blessed with two very good little girls who rarely cry or pout. I'm not bragging - they are a gift from God that I feel I had very little to do with. But when they really put up a fuss about something I know that it is bad. And they were almost crying. "Mommy it smells so bad! What is wrong with the Neon? I hate this car!"

So, stuck with the knowledge that I have to get groceries but the car really smells, I did what any normal woman with pregnancy hormones REALLY kicking in would do. I opened the hood. Maybe some animal crawled up inside the engine at some point, I reasoned. Hey, it's happened before, right? But I found nothing except some oil. So then I thought "maybe the girls dropped something in the back seat that I didn't find before". Right. So we checked the back seat, under the front seats, etc. etc. Nothing. By then I was hot, hungry, and in need of something to cook my hubby for dinner so I told the girls that we had NO CHOICE. We had to take the smelly car and go get food. They sighed, got in, and rolled down their windows. I sighed, got in, and said a little prayer that the good Lord would have mercy on my stomach during the short trip to the store. We all stuck our heads out of the windows while I drove much faster than I usually do to the store. I'm sure there is a therapy bill in my children's future after that car trip.

After what seemed like the longest 1 mile trip of my entire life, we finally arrived at the store. The girls tried to convince me to allow them to leave the windows open so that the car could air out, but I just couldn't do that to the poor innocent people parked next to me. I tried and tried to figure out what was wrong with my stinky car while we were inside shopping, and I intentionally made the trip take a little longer because I didn't want to go back and sit in that car. I felt like I was living a real life version of Seinfeld's "Smelly Car" episode.

Our shopping was finally finished and it was time to head out to the car. I sent the girls to go sit in the car and wait while I unloaded the groceries into the trunk. More future therapy bills, I'm sure. I popped open the trunk and was greeted by a smell worse than than I could ever imagine. The trunk!! Why didn't I think of that before!?! I knew that I had to be a big girl and try to locate the source of the stench, without being too obvious to my fellow shoppers that I was having issues. As I rummaged around in my way-to-filled-with-junk trunk, I felt something wet in a bag. Oh no! Did my trunk leak too now? Noooooo....I couldn't get that lucky. Apparently some time ago on a shopping trip that I don't remember I bought a big bag of potatoes and forgot about them. I'll spare you all the details about what happens to a forgotten bag of potatoes locked up in a trunk for half of the summer. But I scanned the parking lot looking for a hidden dumpster where I could secretly dump the source of my smelly woes. Of course, no such luck. So I removed some of my groceries from a shopping bag, dumped the nasty bag in the extra bag, tied it really tightly, and put it back in my trunk. (Yes, I was desperate but not desperate enough to just leave it sitting there in the parking lot.) I got into the car and told the girls that it was going to be alright - Mommy was going to fix the smelly car. Yay!!! I drove home as fast as I could and unloaded the groceries. I grabbed the dripping wet bag of former potatoes and started walking toward my back gate to throw them into the garbage can when I heard my neighbor saying "Hi!" from the sidewalk. Murphy's Law. So I stood there with a dripping bag of smelly former potatoes and talked to her for a few moments about how I'm feeling and when I'm due until I just couldn't take it any more. I finally 'fessed up, apologised, and told her that I had to run back to my garbage can. We had a great laugh together when I came back out front, especially when she told me about the carton of eggs that got away in her minivan one time. I guess it can happen to anyone.....

But at least my car doesn't smell anymore. I checked first thing this morning.

Cleaning and Running

My parents are coming out for a visit again tomorrow. (My Dad doesn't seem to think that I should be sitting in a car for over 90 minutes while I'm pregnant to come out to visit them, so they keep driving out here. I'm so glad that they are still over-protective even though I am 34 years old now. LOL!) So I have to get the house clean and do my grocery shopping today. I'm hoping to have it all done before this afternoon so my kiddos can go swimming. It's going to be over 90 degrees here today, so we want to go swimming while the swimming is good!

At the risk of T.M.I...........

I hate to get into the whole "too much information" problem on this blog o'mine, but I could use some input from other "Moms who have been there". I ALWAYS have a problem with iron supplements when I am pregnant. If I don't take iron supplements, I get anemia. If I even take a little bit of iron I get, um, unproductive. (I'm sure you Moms know what I mean!!) I can't even bear to take my prenatal vitamin because it has 90(!!!!) mg of iron. My ob says I'll be fine because it "has a stool softener" so I need to take it. But it made me sick. Really, really sick. Like Hubby thought that he had to take me to the hospital sick one night because I was in pain from being, um, unproductive for a number of days and then my body painfully corrected itself all night long. (I know, TMI. Sorry. Iron just makes me really sick when I am pregnant.) So I switched to my normal One-A-Day that I take (without problems, I must add!) when I am not pregnant and a folic acid supplement. Still sick, though not as bad as with the pre-natal. I got sick of the constant cramps so I switched to my kiddos children's vitamin that has no iron in it. Now I am fine, but my ob is not happy at all and insists that I must take the pre-natal in order to have a healthy baby and that I am absolutely not bothered by iron during pregnancy because my body needs it. (I guess that I just imagined all those intestinal cramps.) So I am torn. I feel fine as long as I DON'T TAKE my pre-natal or regular vitamin. I am in horrible pain with it. My ob said I just have to "let my body get used to it". I must stress, this is not the first time this has happened. It happened with both of my other pregnancies too. I just didn't take any vitamins either time and still gave birth to happy, healthy babies.

Has anyone else had this problem? I was going to try to be good this time and suffer through the pre-natal vitamins, but my body just revolts. I have the whole "mommy guilt" thing going on, and my ob has just made me feel worse by almost implying that it is impossible for someone to have problems with iron during pregnancy. But not going to the bathroom for days just plain hurts. Again, sorry for TMI. I have a friend who is an RN and she said to just stop taking the pre-natals and take what doesn't make me sick. Anyway, has anyone else ever had this problem, and if so what did you do??

Grocery Game vs. Super Walmart

Ok, first I have to get this off of my chest. Walmart is evil. There, I said it. That being said, I still shop there. We live less than a mile away, and at $4.29 a gallon for gas closer just wins sometimes. After Super Walmart, the next closest stores are Target and Dominicks (Safeway for some of you). Those stores are just too expensive! Then comes my local Jewel. Here's where it gets interesting for me.

The Walmart Supercenter has consistent low prices. They take coupons but they never double and they never have sales. None of my local stores double, actually. That's the disadvantage of living in an area where they decided some time ago that we were "booming" and they could make money off of us. We're definitely not booming anymore, we're slowly busting due to the housing bubble bust and the tough economy. So I am hoping that at least one store will go back to double coupons. But for now I have Jewel. I have again started saving ALL of my coupons from both papers that I get. (Our local Sunday paper and our big city Sunday paper) Most of the time, Jewel has a "buy one get one free" sale on selected items. You CAN use a coupon on the second free item, so I can usually end up getting a pretty good deal on lots of stuff.

I am not really good about sitting down with the paper and comparing my coupons to the sale prices. That is why I have re-subscribed to "The Grocery Game". For a small subscription fee, the grocery game tells me EXACTLY what I should buy to get the best deals with my coupons. I know, I know. Paying money to save money sounds a little silly. For those of you who don't want to pay, I hear the Coupon Mom (www.couponmom.com) has a similar service for free. But I like not having to think about it and having an instant printable list for my store that I can customize if I want to, so I pay the fee. (It's only about $10 for 3 months and I more than make up for it as long as I follow the system.)

I know some ladies in the area who shop only at the Walmart Supercenter. I just can't do that. Walmart doesn't always have what I want and I am just not fond of all of their meats. So what works for me is to buy my non-sale items at Walmart, (preferably with a coupon), and shop the sales with The Grocery Game at Jewel. I also occasionally hit Aldi and I shop at Food4Less instead of Walmart when the girls are in school. Food4Less actually has better prices than Walmart, but they are about 7 miles up the road on my way to and from school. It sounds silly, but I hate to drive that far when I'm not already on my way like I am when I drop the kids off at school.

And I am still holding out on ordering The Couponizer. I am so proud of myself! I keep hoping that I can find my old beloved coupon organizer, and that is what keeps me strong.

But I want it!!!!

I have to tell you all, I am not usually the kind of person who just has to have something. For example, both of the cars that I drive are fully paid off. They are a bit old (2001), but not that old and they are still in good shape. Well, the Blazer is anyway, and the Neon at least still runs. Our goal was always to drive them until they stopped running or fell apart, because we are cheap. But I know that I am going to need a new car (minivan, most likely) shortly after the baby gets here because neither the Blazer nor the Neon is going to give us enough room to be comfortable. But I don't want a car payment because I AM CHEAP!! And I am happy with what I have even though I know the cars won't work for my family anymore very soon. So the thought of getting a new car, which usually makes people very very happy, actually makes me quite sad.

Why am I talking about this? Because I can't figure out for the life of me why I want "The Couponizer" so badly that I am willing to shell out $20.00 for a product that is supposed to help me save money when I can't bear to get a new car that I will actually need. Talk about silly, huh? I used to have a very nice cloth "billfold" type of coupon organizer back when I was still regularly using coupons. Somehow, I lost it. (It's in the house somewhere, I just know it!!) I just hate having stacks and stacks of unorganized coupons laying around the house, because I never use them when that happens. Then I saw "The Couponizer" over at "Money Saving Mom", and I was hooked! I keep having to talk myself out of ordering it. I have done Internet searches to see if I can find a coupon code to help bring down the price. (I did!!) I bought a cheap cardboard organizer at the grocery store for $3.99 to try to stop my lustful thoughts, but I remain unfulfilled. Do I miss my old coupon organizer so much that I need to fill the void, or am I utterly smitten with the flashiness of the couponizer?? I just don't know anymore, but I am a woman obsessed.

So if any of you have The Couponizer, can you please let me know what it is really like before I go to that website while clutching my debit card in my sweaty little hand. I am desperately close to blowing $20 on it, especially after my favorite frugal column in my local paper mentioned it as being "The Holy Grail" of coupon organizers yesterday. (It felt like a conspiracy!) My resolve is crumbling. Really folks, I am a woman on the brink. Please, somebody, STOP ME!!!!!!

Speaking in Tongues

Wow! I have been a bit religious lately, huh? Maybe it is because my garden is having it's worst year that I can remember so I have been praying over it alot. LOL!

But anyway, I have mentioned before that I love MZEllen's blog. She has a great post up there now concerning the 2 different forms of speaking in tongues, complete with a new term that I had never heard of before: xenoglossy. My own explanation of her post would not do it any justice, so if you are interested in this topic I urge you to go take a look at MZEllen's blog and read it for yourself.

Have a great weekend! I have a busy one coming up so I am not sure if I'll be back here before Monday.

A question for some of my readers

I had this thought while I was pondering why I thought that the comment below from one of the "Keeping the Home" blog readers was so silly and why I have such a problem with the attack on the Catholic Church for previously using Latin at Masses before the language was switched to the vernacular.

Here is the comment:
"I remember going over to a high school friend's house one time. Her mother was getting together mementoes for their 20th Anniversary party, and one of them was the bible she carried as a RC bride. My own mother carried her bible, too, and I thought it was sweet. This lady opened it to show her wedding inscription, and I was shocked to find that her bible was in Latin! I asked if she read Latin, and she said no, but their services were performed in Latin so the bible she carried was, as well. I remember that being one of the first times I noticed something wasn't OK with that church.

It's hard to imagine having a holy book you can't read."

And here is my question: Why is it wrong for Catholics to use Latin because "no one can understand it" but is it ok for some Christians to speak in tongues without a translator present? I just do not understand this contradiction. Candy has mentioned speaking in tongues before as being biblical. I quote from her blog post on Tuesday July 1, 2008: "Speaking in tongues is not speaking repetitive gibberish, it is simply one's speaking a different language, which they never learned. That different language is not necessarily limited to currently spoken languages - dead languages have been resurrected and spoken by tongues, as well as languages that have not been identified. " (Emphasis my own) I guess I just don't understand why it is ok for some Christians to use unknown languages in worship but wrong for Catholics to use a "dead language" for which the translation is still available. Am I missing something here? Any thoughts from my readers??

Updated July 15, 2008
** I updated this post to include the phrase "Christians" instead of Evangelicals like I originally used. I don't want to lump all Protestant Christians together because I know that not all branches practice speaking in tongues during either public or private worship, but I am really blown away by all of the different branches of Christianity and I can't seem to find the right word to use here. Please excuse my ignorance on the subject. I guess that's why I need to ask my readers for some insight. :) **

Another comment that I am sure won't get posted

over at Keeping the Home:

"In response to the comment above about the Latin Bible, I feel it necessary to mention that my MIL also has a Bible written in Latin. She went to Catholic High School before the language was switched to the vernacular and Latin was a required course. Although she is not fluent in Latin, especially now after almost 40 years, she was able to understand some of her Latin Bible. She also told me that her Latin Bible was NEVER her only bible. She, in fact, has many including a KJV.

Yes, it was standard for the Catholic Church to conduct all of their services in Latin before Vatican II. This HAS changed, and I think it is important for readers of this blog to understand that. I have been to a Latin (Tridentine) Mass and have found it beautiful despite the fact that I only took two semesters of Latin Derivatives my senior year of high school and could understand very little. It is possible to find beauty and spirituality in a service that is not in your native tongue.

My mother has a bible that is written in German. It is a family heirloom that has a brief family history and our family tree written on the inside cover as it was passed down through my family. I cannot read German, although I can understand some spoken German. If we were to go on the theory that the only Bible worth keeping or carrying with you on your wedding day is one that you could read, I would have to toss this precious family heirloom in the trash.

Have a blessed day."

***Updated to add: I am in utter SHOCK. She actually published my comment!! Well, I do have to give her credit on this one.***

Busy day...

I don't have much time to blog today. I had to go for blood tests (routine for me, for my thyroid, nothing serious) this morning, and I unfortunately had to have them done at the local hospital so it took much more time than I would have preferred. Tonight, I have to go to a committee meeting for our school's "Family Fest" and I have to get all of my stuff together for the meeting. I also have to clean out our Neon. (It leaks when it rains, and the passenger floor board gets soaked. I forgot to open the windows to let it air out after the big storms that we had been having a week or so ago. Words cannot describe the stifling and smelly air that greeted me when I got in the car this morning. What a pleasant start to my day. LOL!) I have to clean the house because my parents are coming over this weekend. And I have to get my kiddos ready to go over to the neighbors tonight so that I can go to my meeting because hubby has a "team building" meeting tonight that will go on past the time when I would need him to be here to watch the kids. (He hates those "team building" things, but he has to go.)

Whew! I better get started.

Oh - my garden tip for the day: Don't foget to weed regularly otherwise you will face the daunting weeding task that I also have ahead of me today. Lazy lazy me.

My money saving tip of the day: Well, I have been trying not to drive much at all since my kiddos have been out of school and I haven't had to drive across town twice a day every day. That really saves some money, lol! But if you have a car that leaks when it rains, DON'T forget to open the windows after it rains if you aren't driving as much. Trust me, it's a very bad thing if you forget to do that. :)

Have a great day!

I wasn't going to post this....

But now I am going to, since Candy has published her answers but didn't acknowledge my questions:

FROM MY ORIGINAL POST THIS MORNING
Candy over at Keeping the Home has opened up her comment section for questions that some of her readers may have regarding certain controversies about her blog. The back story for those who aren't familiar with it is a bit too long to explain here. But just trust me when I say that it is very helpful to save a copy of all of the comments that you leave on her blog just in case they get, um, "lost" or they don't get published but she responds to them publicly.

So here is my comment, just in case:

Candy, I have two questions that I am hoping that you could answer honestly. The first question is: when will you stop attacking the Catholic faith? It is one thing to disagree with the theology. It is quite another to post claims on your blog and call them truth when they can (and have) been proven as lies. You are completely entitled to have your own beliefs and spread the Gospel. But I do not understand why you feel compelled to resort to slander against another group of Christians. You don't have to agree with what the Catholic Church teaches, but you don't have to demonize it with outrageous claims either. THAT is why some of your Catholic readers felt like they had to start a blog. It was in response to your claims against Catholicism and your unwillingness to allow comments about your RC posts refuting your claims, not because they hate you and wanted to spread lies about you.

I also hope that you take a moment and clarify for your readers that Elena and the other ladies on her blog try very very hard to stick with only refuting your claims against Catholicism and not go into personal attacks.

My second question is: I have read on several different blogs that you posted an aerial view of Elena's home. Is this true? I found this very disturbing and, honestly, shockingly unkind and un-Christian. Why did you do this? Let's strip away the Catholic-Protestant controversy and just look at the potential harm that action could have done to another woman and her family. I don't understand why you would ever think it was ok to do that. When I learned that you did that to her and her family (and read confirmation of the event from several different sources), that was when you lost a great deal of credibility in my eyes.

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer some of the questions that your readers may have. Have a blessed day!

I corrected a spelling error in the last paragraph, but other than that this comment is exactly as I sent it.

Really, I have so many questions for her. For example, why does she not allow Catholic commenter's to have their comments published? Why does she not publish some comments but then respond to them publicly, allowing her readers to only get one side of the story. I have so many more, but I figured I had a better chance of getting published if I kept it simple. So let's see what happens.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, now we know what happened,
AND I JUST SENT HER THIS:
Just curious, but is there a reason why you decided not to respond to my question about why you posted a view of Elena's home on your blog?

But the real question is: Will I be banned from her comments now?

**Updated to add**
And now she took down the comments from the responses to critics post. ARRRRGGHHHH!

Garden Progress

It's hard for me to believe that July 4th has come and gone. That means that summer here starts it's long slow progression into fall. Is that a "glass half empty" way of looking at it? Yeah, kind of. But in reality I have to view the season that way because it is really time for me to get my franny in gear and start focusing on my fall crops. When planning a multi-season garden, you always have to look AHEAD as well as focusing on the present. It's only with careful planning that you can have a successful multi-season garden.

Here is what I am harvesting so far:
Peas
Lettuce
spinach (going to seed now, though.)

And that's about it so far. But it will get better. Broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, green peppers, and tomatoes are all starting to grow beautifully. It's just a matter of time......

I am also renewing my pledge to be a more frugal shopper. With the baby coming, food and gas prices prices soaring, and tuition at my girlies school going WAY up, I have to try to save as much as possible. I plan on adding more frugal links to my blog and updating everyone on my progress. I used to be pretty good at this, but I am out of practice. Our family could use this help now more than ever....

The Fourth of July

My neighborhood goes crazy with fireworks on the Fourth of July. And on the 3rd, and the 5th, and pretty much the whole entire week before and week after the 4th of July. I HATE HATE HATE IT. I much prefer the professional fireworks that are set off by all of the local towns and cities in our area. I thought, judging by the amount of fireworks set off, that I was alone in my torment each year until I found this on this wonderful blog. Fourth of July Fuddy-Duddies unite! I just want to know - whatever happened to simply having a patriotic BBQ and going to see the fireworks?? It was so much more relaxing back then. I just got over having to hold my poor frightened children and rock them to sleep every July 4th. (They think it's cool now that they are over the age of 5.) Now I have to go through it all over again and deal with a dog scaredy-dog and irritated cats at the same time. It's just not fun for the rest of us. And why oh why do they have to keep lighting them off at 1 AM??

Ok, preggy-rant over........

Some Heavy Summer Reading

**Warning: I am going to stray into a politically charged issue with this post. I usually don't do this. But it all ties into certain things that happened and are happening in my own life. So please forgive me for going here. Read if you like, feel free to click past this post if you don't.

When I was in college, I was what I shall call "Pro-other people's choice". Abortion was something that I would never do myself, however I felt that another woman should have the option in the first trimester if she needed to. My argument for this was things such as rape and incest. I personally could not imagine having to carry and deliver a baby conceived in such a way. (As an aside, I still cannot. This feeling has only intensified as I have carried and delivered my own children that were conceived in love, not hate, violence, or selfishness. I still struggle with this aspect because I am not perfect. I pray about this conflict constantly. But I do believe that a mother who bears a child conceived in this manner rather than abort is simply the most loving and selfless person that I could ever imagine.) I argued that if you make abortion legal for only those circumstances such as rape and incest, the process of proving the case for the abortion would delay the woman from receiving care in an a prompt time frame. I was TOTALLY opposed to abortion as birth control, but totally opposed to making a woman suffer for crimes committed against her. Ah, to be young and in a liberal arts college!!!

Fast forward to my marriage to my Catholic husband and my first pregnancy. I had always thought that the Catholic view of birth control and pro-life issues was something like what my mother had always told me: "They just want you to make more Catholics". Yep, it sure sounded like it on the surface. Then I started getting more interested in Catholicism and started reading the real views of the Catholic Church. It was SO MUCH MORE than that! Then came my pregnancy and my sudden, life-changing realization that the baby growing inside of me was it's own life as important as my own. My heart started changing. It ached for the babies who's mothers aborted them for no reason other than they found out that they became pregnant when they didn't want to. I went from being "pro-other people's choice" to being more pro-life. In fact, the Catholic Church's view on life issues is one of the things that first attracted me to the faith and started me on my journey to conversion.

I strongly recommend that people of all faiths read John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" writings or one of the companion books ("Theology" is some heavy reading! There are some great companion books out there that help break it down.) It was life changing for me. I cannot touch bases on all of the topics that are covered in the Catholic view of life, but this book brings it all into perspective in a way that I feel crosses over into all denominations. I was able to see how all aspects of life tie together, cannot be seperated, and influence everything. Ok, I am not doing this justice in trying to explain it in my own words. Please consider exploring this on your own! It is worth every minute that you spend reading it. *If anyone knows any books that you would recommend, please feel free to leave them in the comment section. I am a new Catholic and I am sure that I am not explaining this well and not listing the best books out there on the subject.

I could try to write poetically about the changes that I have gone through over the years. But this article does it so much better than I could ever dream of doing it myself. If you are interested in life issues and the Catholic perspective, consider taking a moment to read this.

Have a great Fourth of July weekend in case I am not back before then!!!

Ah Summer!!

Well, it finally got hot here in my little corner of the world! So I have been sitting inside with the air on until the sun goes down a bit and I can actually go outside without bursting into flames and filling up like a water balloon. I am usually not so wimpy during the summer. I really love the heat. But pregnancy just does something weird to me. I puff up with fluid and turn into my own little furnace as soon as the temperature inches above 80 degrees. I am so not a pretty pregnany lady. I don't glow, I radiate heat. Ugh. I am already looking forward to next summer.

I had an OB appointment yesterday and the baby is doing very well. So is mommy, aside from the obviously wildly swinging pregancy hormones (judging by the above paragraph!). LOL!! I really am doing good though. My blood pressure is good and I have been trying really hard to keep my weight gain in check. Baby's heartbeat is very strong and it has a GREAT kick. I am starting to get past the worried/suprised stage and more into the excited/nesting stage.

Our town is having it's annual "Taste of" fest, so I think that is what we are going to be doing this weekend. There will be over 30 local restaurants there. I certainly hope that one of them will be a Mexican restaurant because that is what I craved with all of my past pregnancies and this one is turning out the same way. Wow I want some nachos for lunch. And ice cream. And Jalapenos! Mmmmmm..... Just Kidding!! But I really do want some nachos. And ice cream. I guess that I just have to wait until tomorrow.

Anyway, I must finally get off this computer and start cleaning. Enjoy your weekend!

ABC meme

This is going around some of the blogs that I read, so I just couldn't resist.

A)Age- 34
B)Burger of choice- Jewel Pub Burger fresh off the grill
C)What kind of car you drive- Chevy Blazer & Dodge Neon. Talk about opposites, huh?
D)Dogs name- Cinnamon
E)Essential item you use every day- Mascara - I have blond eyelashes so my eyes look bald unless I do something about it.
F)Favorite TV show- How Clean is Your House? - My guilty pleasure. It makes me feel better about my own house.
G)Favorite game to play- Chutes and Ladders or Lego Star Wars
H)Hometown- a small suburb of Chicago
I)Instruments you play- Recorder, LOL!!! But I used to play around on the guitar and I always wanted to learn to play the piano. Does that count?
J)Favorite Juice- Lemonade. Is that a juice? Oh. Then it would have to be "Orange Juice" I guess.
K)Whose butt you would love to kick- my own back into shape after I have the baby
L)Last restaurant you ate at- A local Mexican Restaurant
M)Favorite Muppet- The Swedish Chef. Bork bork bork!
N)Number of piercings- two, one on each ear. I am boring.
O)Overnight hospital stays- 4, I think
P)People you were with today- My hubby and 2 dd's
Q)What you do in your quiet time- read, pray, relax, blog, listen to music
R)Biggest regret- way too many to mention
S)Status- very incredibly happily married to the man of my dreams. (Yep, I'm mushy)
T)Time you woke up- 6:00 am. I slept in. Usually it's 5:30 am.
U)What you consider unique- my entire life
V)Vegetables you love- anything fresh from the garden
W)Worst habit- swearing when I drive
X)X-rays you have had- Too many for me to remember
Y)Yummy food you ate today- Pepridge (sp?) Farm "Everything" Bagel with chive and onion cream cheese. Hey, I'm pregnant. What did you expect - something normal???
Z)Zodiac sign- Virgo

This and That

It was a lovely weekend here in my part of the Midwest. It was just warm enough to be happy and comfortable, and just cool enough to be happy and comfortable. (In other words, it was in the upper 70s and my poor preggy legs, ankles, and feet actually weren't swelling. That's how I judge a good day now. LOL!!)

I really didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked to this weekend, but we did relax and have fun. I got some more seeds replanted in the garden. Carrots and such. I also re-potted my hubby's plant from his office at work and finally planted some of those flowers that had just been sitting around in their original containers getting root bound instead of looking pretty on my patio.

I am hoping to have enough peas ready in the garden to be able to have them for dinner tonight. My parents are supposed to come over, so it would be nice to surprise my retired gardener Dad with some fresh produce. Although he will walk out to my garden and remind me that I need to tie up my tomatoes, I am sure. They are a bit out of control right now because I am (ok, my hubby is) building some new supports for them with PVC pipe and chicken wire. Right now my tomatoes are visiting with my broccoli and it is a bit hard to walk around in the garden, so I need to get that under control.

Other than that, it was a long relaxing weekend. So relaxing, in fact, that I must now go clean before my parents come over. I don't want them to think that I have gone sloppy!

As an aside, I was saddened to hear that George Carlin has passed away. He was 1 year younger than my father is. Yes, I know that he was controversial and used some pretty foul language. I may not have always agreed with him, but sometimes I did. And sometimes he just made me laugh, like with his baseball and football comparison. (*I tried to make sure that this video is clean!* I didn't hear any dirty words on this clip, but beware of any other Carlin videos if you have the kiddos around or if you don't want to hear any objectionable language! Oh, and watch the comment section. But other than that, you should be ok.) But when you stripped away the cuss words, he really said things that made you *think*. I like people who make me think. Thinking is good. Sometimes you learn something new and sometimes you just learn to see something from a different point of view. But a person who is solid in their Faith should never be afraid of a different point of view. I have always found that it makes me a better person to understand something from someone else's perspective.

Anyway, hope that everyone has a great week! :)

A Beautiful Gift

For those who may not know, I entered the Catholic Church this year during Easter Vigil. It was a wonderful experience and I had the opportunity to meet many people who were able to enrich my knowledge and help me grow in my faith. Throughout the experience, I was given many gifts from the church and from individual people. Rosaries, scrap books, medals, books, plants, scapulars, etc. etc. etc. were some of the many gifts that I received during this time. I am so grateful to everyone for their generosity. But my favorite gift of all is my subscription to "Magnificat" magazine.

Although I am sure that many of my fellow Catholics are familiar with it, I had never heard of it until I was given a copy by one of the wonderful women who were helping to teach RCIA. I LOVE this little magazine. For those who are not familiar with it, it is so small that it can easily slip inside your purse but it contains SO MUCH information to help you grow in your prayer and faith life. There are entries for each day the contain a morning prayer, hymn, psalm readings, OT and NT readings, Gospel Readings, Intercessions, Mass section, Meditation of the Day (kinda like a Homily)and Evening Prayer and Saints of Today and Yesterday section. WOW!!! It is a powerful tool.

I know that one of the criticisms of Catholics by some of our Protestant brothers and sisters is that we do not spend enough time studying Scripture. I have to be honest. I do not spend as much time reading my Bible as I would like to. I have a million excuses - children, husband, home, yard, cats, dogs, work, cooking, shopping, illness, etc. That is why I love and value the Liturgical Calendar. (IMHO, I think that those Christians who don't follow a true liturgical calendar are missing out on alot. But again, that is only my opinion.) As long as I follow the Liturgical Calendar, I can make sure that I meet my basic spiritual needs. The Magnificat Magazine makes following the Liturgical Calendar so incredibly easy for me as a busy wife and mother. If I don't get to read everything for the day and I have a doctor's appt. or something like that, I can easily slip it into my purse. It's like having a copy of the Bible, "Chicken Soup for the Soul", and a prayer book all rolled into one portable little book. I strongly encourage you to try the Magnificat if you haven't already. A one-year subscription is a bit pricey (apx $40.00 I believe) but it is really worth it and I will be continuing my subscription after my gift runs out.

Have a wonderful Day!! :)

Preggy Update, etc.

Well, according to my Baby Center emails, I am officially 17 weeks pregnant. I don't really feel like I am. But I am DEFINITELY not complaining about that. I am more in shock because when I do the math I realise that I only have about 23 weeks (in a perfect world) to get everything done that I have dreamed I would do before the baby gets here. I want to clean out every closet. They really need it! We have a "Don't open the closets when company is over" rule. Kinda like our "Don't open the kitchen cabinets when company is over" rule. Oh, and don't forget the "Don't open the door to the play room when company is over" rule. You get the picture, right? If I don't do everything now, things will only get worse after the baby comes. So I plan to be as busy as my body will let me be. I feel pretty good so far, and believe me when I say that I thank the good Lord every day for that! :)

My strawberries are coming in - slowly. I was able to harvest 18 whole strawberries yesterday. Who hoo!! I brought them in, washed them off, and set them in a bowl on the kitchen counter. Then I went upstairs to shower and contemplate exactly what I was going to do with only 18 strawberries. Should I freeze them until the rest of the crop is ready? Should I make a nice jello mold or jello pie or something? Maybe some strawberry quick bread? I just didn't really have a clue about what to do with only a few strawberries. When I came down the stairs after my shower I noticed that my bowl of strawberries was missing from the counter. Hmmmmmmmm..... I looked down in the family room and saw that my two DDs had discovered the perfect use (in their opinion) for the strawberries: a nice mid morning snack for two growing girls. Oh well! At least they went to a good cause!!

Ok - One more post today

I couldn't resist linking to this article that I read today during my lunch break from cleaning. Wouldn't it be great if the government would listen to the voice of the people and actually allow FREEDOM OF EDUCATIONAL CHOICE for our children?

No blogging time today

I swore that I was going start doing the everyday posting thing. I had really good intentions. Then life kinda crept in and said otherwise. I really don't have oodles of time to blog today because I have to clean my house. I was going to that yesterday, but our cat threw up on the family room floor (with the new light beige carpet) not just once but THREE separate times. I spent yesterday steam cleaning my carpet. Several times. Because you can't just clean a spot on light beige carpet. So I had to do the whole room (the biggest room in the house) the first time, and then spot clean every other time. At least my carpet is so clean now that it is a sight to behold. :) Did I mention that I LOVE my Bissel Pro-Heat carpet cleaner? With 2 kids, 2 cats, and 1 big dirty Husky, I just can't live without it.

But I must clean today because the tile guy is coming over to give us an estimate on finally putting the shower in our downstairs bathroom. It has been 10 years in the making, but it appears that the time has finally arrived. With the baby on the way, my hubby is a bit worried that he may never shower again unless we finally add that shower. And I don't want the tile guy to turn me in to Kim and Aggie and have my home appear on "How Clean is Your House?". So I am off to scrub now.

Have a happy day!

Forgotten Lyrics

Hubby and I were outside working on the pool and preparing for our pre-Father's Day cook out on Saturday. He popped some disks into the CD player. (Yeah, we still use CDs. Pathetic, I know. We do also have MP3s and VZ Music on our phones. But old habits die hard. Especially when it would cost bundles of cash to upgrade our stereo and music format. We just have better uses for our money.) He put on an old Queensryche CD and this song came on. I remember hearing it back in the day and thinking: "Wow! This song is so true it's scary!!" It is even more true today, over ten years later. So much for progress.

"Sign of the Times" - Queensryche

Heading for the classroom yesterday
The kids file through the metal machine
It finds what they may hide
No it just ain't right...
A sign of the times

Another church is burning to the ground...
Looking for the vandals and
they're nowhere to be found
But the hate's alive
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...

Would someone please let me know
how we have spun out of control?
Has the captain let go of the wheel?
Or could we please try to find a way to be a bit more kind?
I see the road to tomorrow in the haze!

On the Senate floor they congregate
Many pockets lined with green,
From those behind the scenes,
yeah they take the bribe ( it's on the side )
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...
A sign of the times, Sign of the times...


From the album: Hear In The Now Frontier (1997)
Hear it here. Not the best version. Sorry. :(
---------------------------

And yes, I am a pathetic MetalHead. :)

In the Grrrrrden

All that I have to say about this year's growing season here in the corn belt is:
GRRRRRRRRR!!

Have you been reading those stories about higher corn prices? The last that I read, a bushel of corn was going for $7.58 (That's really high folks!!!!) and was projected to be much higher later in the summer because of the harsh spring and SERIOUS FLOODING in Iowa. (Let's take a moment to say a prayer for all of those folks who are suffering right now.) Here in my neck of the farm fields, farmers started out the year almost 3 weeks behind in planting because of the cold and wet spring that we had. Now many fields have some standing water in them. Most vegetables don't grow in standing water, especially corn and soybeans. And those two crops have a great deal of control over food prices as a whole.

The points of this little post are as follows:

1. My garden is hurting, just like the farmer's crops. So my usual buffer against the rising cost of food isn't going to be what it usually is. GRRRRRRRRR!

And, most importantly, number
2. Food prices will be going up up up in your grocery store. I know, they already have gone up. But it is going to get worse. So, if you can, try to stock up a little bit now. My area of farmdom, besides growing some of the finest sweet corn that you have ever had the intense privilege of eating, grows a large portion of feed corn. And we have lost a lot of crops. Lots of farmers and just chucking the corn that got damaged and planting soy beans. (Sigh. I have my own opinion of soy, and it is not good.) And Iowa, the #1 corn producer in the nation, is under water. So expect your beef, pork, chicken, eggs, and dairy to go up because the price of feed is going to suffer a big price jump. Stock up and freeze if you can.

On the bright side, my peas and strawberries are coming in and I should have some lettuce and spinach shortly. We are going to expand our garden AWAY from the flood zone of our property, so that might save me next year.

Now, I have to go out and de-bug, weed, pull cilantro, and plant some carrots. It is also time for me to start my fall seeds so that they will be ready to plant in August. The fun part of gardening is that I always have to think a few months in advance.

Well, I am off to go cry in my garden. Have a wonderful day!!!

On Christian Unity

This is a comment that I left over at Candy's blog at www.keepingthehome.com:

"I am pretty certain that this comment won't be published, but I am going to give it a try anyway. I am also pretty sure that I am going to get some not-so-nice responses from some of this blog readers, but I am going to say this anyway.

Yes, this IS Candy's blog. She CAN say whatever she wants. It doesn't mean that she *should*. There are plenty of other homemaking blogs out there with content that is just as good or superior to the content on this blog that are maintained by Christian women. They, just like Candy, share their faith on a daily basis. But they DON'T target a specific denomination as being wrong or "cult-like".

Ladies, we are all Christians. We all love the Lord. But there are widely different interpretations of the Bible even among Protestants. Honestly, ask yourselves why you enjoy Candy's anti-Catholicism posts (if you even do). Closely examine why you feel that they are beneficial to a Protestant Christian or to a Roman Catholic. Do you really think that a practicing Roman Catholic woman who truly knows her faith would read what is written and become "saved"? Or do you think that it would hurt her heart because if she has any real knowledge of her Catholic faith she would find it offensive and inaccurate? Do you really need to hurt or anger someone in order to make them believe? Do you think that a Protestant woman would find these anti-Catholic articles relevant to her daily life? If she comes from certain branches of Protestant Christianity, she probably already has an unfavorable opinion of Catholicism. So in essence these articles are "preaching to the choir", if you will, and hurting other Sisters in Christ in the process.

I am sure that there are many of you who will be angry with me or tell me to go to another web site and go away. And that is fine, you are entitled to feel that way. But a Roman Catholic woman is also entitled to feel very hurt when her faith is presented in a way that she she knows to be untrue by a website that she otherwise enjoys. The Internet is a wonderful and strange place. You can say anything that you want and back it up with the "Freedom of Speech" line. But Freedom of Speech comes with a great responsibility. Are we meeting that responsibility when we tear each other down in such a manner? Or are we just guilty of the same thing that non-believers have accused Christians of for many years - that we can't even peacefully co-exist without tearing each other apart??

Have a blessed day and a wonderful weekend."

This comment was sent exactly as I have it shown here, with the exception that I ran spell check on this version. I have lots of stuff to do today and I wa typing quickly over at Candy's site. I am sure that my spelling errors will be brought to my attention by other readers of her blog. But I am curious to see if she posts it at all or if she will cut and paste the parts that she wants to use. We'll see...

*UPDATED TO ADD* Well, it looks like I didn't make the cut.

Catching up with myself

I am so glad that May is over. Can I just say that one more time? I am SO GLAD that May is over!!!! What a busy month! School, work, birthdays, etc. took up all of my time. Now here it is almost the middle of June (GASP!!!) and I still don't feel like I have recovered from that crazy month. I have so much that I want to do and absolutely need to get done before summer is over and the kids are back in school, but I really haven't even started yet. So much for progress....

My garden is suffering along. It has been a crazy spring. We went from too cold to too hot and then WAY too much rain. I still have some planting to do, which I will hopefully get done tonight after dinner. I can't seem to find already growing jalapeno pepper plants, and mine bit the dust somewhere in between too cold and too hot. So I am going to throw some seeds in the ground and pray. It probably won't work, but you can't blame a girl for trying.

Here is what I have planted so far:
Tomatoes:
Roma
Cherry
Tiny Tim
Super Sweet 100
Big Tom
Green Peppers
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrots
Onions
Cos Lettuce
Spinach
Mesculin Mix (I'm not really happy with this so far)
Peas
Cucumbers
Zucchini (There's a first time for everything!)
*Need to get my Pumpkins in!
*Need to plant MORE Carrots and Broccoli!
Cilantro
Basil
Marjoram
Chives
Parsley
Mint

It sounds impressive, right? Ah, not so much. Mother Nature is a fickle lady, and she has decided not to smile upon our spring growing season this year. I am hoping for a better summer and fall so that I can work extra hard and catch up. We'll just see how it goes. It is especially important for me to catch up because our cruddy spring has ruined a lot of corn crops in our area. Yep, brace yourselves for higher food prices all around since I live in the corn belt and we have suffered this year. My little garden does help me provide a buffer against rising food prices, but this year is a bit rough going. Now don't get me wrong. A garden is ALWAYS worth it. You just have to work a bit harder some years and this is one of those years.

Well, I am off to *try* to enjoy my night. Hubby is at an IRON MAIDEN (!!) concert tonight and it looks like he is going to be one of the lucky few who get to go onstage with Maiden and sing "Heaven Can Wait" with fan club members. Yes, we are geeky Metal Heads who belong to a fan club. Membership has it's privileges. ;) I was supposed to go, but our tickets were for the main floor and it was standing room only. No seats. Because of the crowd push and my swelling ankles we figured that it would be best for me to skip this concert. (We had ordered the tickets way before we knew that I was pregnant, otherwise hubby would have skipped it with me or we would have ordered box seats so that I could sit and enjoy the concert.) Although I miss him (and the concert) I am going to try to get some things done tonight while he is out. Wish me luck!!