I Do in Fact Feel Blessed/Lucky in This Life of Mine

But, I certainly hope I am not the kind who is obnoxious about it...

You are The Wheel of Fortune

Good fortune and happiness but sometimes a species of
intoxication with success

The Wheel of Fortune is all about big things, luck, change, fortune. Almost always good fortune. You are lucky in all things that you do and happy with the things that come to you. Be careful that success does not go to your head however. Sometimes luck can change.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

Don't Say I Didn't Warn You...

My new camera arrived via UPS yesterday afternoon. We were standing in the neighbors yard chatting away and I saw the Big Brown Cow come driving down the road. I ran to meet the driver so he wouldn't have to leave his truck and he laughed and asked if I guessed he was here for us (we get a fair number of UPS packages...) or if I was expecting something. I told him with glee that I was expecting my new camera and then he understood my excitement but still had to laugh at me.
I've been playing around with it since last night and I have a lot to learn but it's fun to check out some of the various built-in features and modes. One of the first things I tried out was the color accent mode:

I need to play around with it some more to get a better feel for how to quickly set the color of choice.

I also just played around with basic settings to see how things worked and it was nice to know that there were some similarities to the buttons/features that I have on my old Canon.

Here's a picture of A today at lunchtime - I used the "portrait" mode although I don't really see a difference between regular settings and portrait mode. I've noticed that in some instances red-eye is very much reduced but there is some red eye that occurred in this shot...


Last night R lost another tooth (number 6!) and of course I had to record it for posterity on my new camera! Love that gappy grin!



And lastly, I was taking a few pictures during story time last night before bed. This is a pretty typical scene right now...E wants to be in on the action so as soon as she hears the story get started she plows right in and climbs onto the lap of whoever is reading with no regard whatsoever to anyone who gets in her way.



More pictures to come. I'm off to play with my new toy some more!

Spring pictures to share...

First a few of my loveys in their spring ensembles (courtesy of a local portrait studio)...

And as a follow-up to my post about Rick and his amazing adventures in gardening here are a few pictures of "Mr. Jeanne's Greens"....get it...kinda like Mr. Green Jeans. I'm so freakin' clever.
Broccoli in the back, spinach in the front.

Lettuce in the front left and anemically in the right rear. Green onions in the right front and it was supposed to be carrots in the left rear...oh well, you can't win 'em all.
Bush beans in the corner. Nothing yet in the surrounding squares.
These are some of the stuff that hasn't been planted yet. There is thyme, basil, daisies, peppers, and something else...I forget!

This is R's very own bucket o' beans.

And this is A's bucket o' flowers. Not much happening yet but there are some small and some tiny sprouts happening.

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And in other exciting news...Rick spilled the beans and let me know that I'd be getting a new camera for Mother's Day. Can you say "Jeanne is EXCITED!" Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!
He wanted to be absolutely sure that I got the camera I really wanted so he needed to get my approval before ordering. It will be ordered very soon but won't get here in time for Mother's Day...but I really don't care. I am getting a new camera!!!! And it will be here soon!!! Oh, and for those who care to know it's a Canon Powershot S3. They are coming out with a new model soon but I really don't need the upgrades for the extra $200, so we are ordering the S3 now. I can't wait!

So, be forewarned that this blog will soon be deluged with plenty more pictures in the near future!!!

This 'n that...

Time for a bulleted update!

* R was giving us a fair bit of sass and drama lately and we were at our wit's end with her. So, from our parenting bag of tricks we pulled the "Chore Chart Incentive Program" and it has actually worked WONDERS. Amazing what a little bribery will do. The way it works is this: she has specific chores to do each day (actually we are using it for both R and A since they were both interested in getting some cold hard cash) for which she can earn stickers on her chart. Some of the stuff they do is already part of our routine such as clearing their dishes from the table and helping with the trash and recycling. They can also earn extra stickers for helping with chores that are not generally part of their routine - like helping me vacuum or weeding in the garden - or for having particularly good behavior during the day. Each sticker earned gets them a nickel at the end of the week. This week R has done a complete 180 and has willingly done various chores and has behaved so well. I keep checking the cabinets and under beds to see if I can find the pods... This week R earned herself $2.05 and A earned $1.75. The way I figure, it's a bargain for regaining some level of peace and sanity in the house!

* I was recently invited by R's school to sit on a search committee for a new second grade teacher. I immediately agreed to do it and then second-guessed myself and wondered what the hell I was getting myself into. I have not had to do something like that in a very long time and I was extremely nervous. In the end, it all went well and I found it a valuable experience, even if I was completely brain dead after a 7-interview day that went from 8:00am to 4:00pm! Perhaps some day I will share more on that experience but for now the search committee is still "in process" with no formal decision on hires so "mums the word"...just in case someone were to stumble across this blog. Unlikely, yes...but even so...

* I'm getting back in the groove with my morning walks - the mornings have been brisk/cold but otherwise beautiful - so that's good. My basement workouts have fallen by the wayside over the last week or so because of a cold (or possible allergy...??) that has had me sniffling for a couple of weeks and now with a lovely, phlegmy cough to add to the misery. I can't seem to bring myself to doing the heavy-duty sweat-fest videos when I'm feeling this way so I'm glad I'm at least able to get in the walks most mornings. I'm now down 22 pounds and holding steady for the time being. I've been pretty good about food intake of late. Not perfect -- I could probably see faster progress if I were more strict. But, I'll take what I can get and enjoy the rest. Slow but steady wins the race, right?

* Rick has been working hard on our garden for the past couple of months and we have a nice little crop growing already. He decided to start a bunch of stuff from seed this year and set up some lights in the basement so he could get them started nice and early. He even set up programmable lights that would turn on and off at the appropriate times. Yeah, he's a geek...and I love him dearly. (It makes me want to go and order one of these.) So far, we have the following growing in our raised-bed garden (with cold frame to keep in the heat at night because we still have lows near freezing some nights): broccoli, lettuce, turnips, spinach, bush beans, and green onions. Everything planted in there, with the exception of the carrots, really took off and is growing great! Rick also started cucumber and yellow squash from seed and has those growing in separate pots that can be moved indoors if we suspect and overnight frost. Those have yet to start sprouting. And lastly, he started basil, Anaheim peppers, tomatoes, and a couple of different flowers from seed and those just recently came out from under the grow lights and he is starting to put them outside during the daytime to harden them off a bit before planting them in the ground. We are going to have a kick-ass garden this year -- all thanks to the green thumb of dear, wonderful Rick. 'Cuz left up to me we'd be doing our 'harvesting' at the local grocer every week...

I guess those are the major highlights for now.

Little Update on This and That...

I'm still here. Not a whole lot going on that is all that compelling.

This past week was school vacation week so it's been a bit busy around here. I managed to keep the kids fairly busy with activities - despite the nasty weather at the start of the week - and tomorrow the older two will be back to school. Happy dance!

Today is Sunday so it was church day. The girls were very excited because we missed last week. They love going to church school so it's a disappointment when they miss a week. Rick wanted to get some work on making more concrete pavers for our eventual backyard patio (it's been in the works since last summer/fall and he hopes to finish it this spring!) so we took E to church with us for the first time since she's been so mobile. I wondered how she would do with being in the nursery without me for the first time. The last attempt was futile. She screamed and screamed until they finally came and got me. Today she did great! She and A were in the room together and one other toddler was with them. E stayed busy coloring, eating snack, and playing and she was absolutely fine. She is finally able to stretch her naptime to just after lunch so that helped, too.

We are in the process of planning our summer trip to Virginia to visit Rick's brother and nephew. It's a long drive, but we hope it goes at least as well as it did last year. I need to research hotels and find a suitable one (read: 2 queen beds and an indoor pool) for our first and last nights. It works best if we break up the driving into two segments each way. We usually drive a longer leg the first day and stay at a hotel and then do less driving and hit an attraction of some sort (usually a musuem) on the second driving day. Last year we drove to Philly, stayed overnight, and then headed to the Maryland Science Center for the afternoon. It was fun, but we saw less than half of the exhibits so I think we are going to try for a similar itinerary this year on the way down. Our visit this year will include seeing the new house that Rick's brother just bought, a visit to a few local attractions (both in D.C. as well as in the greater Northern Virginia area), and hopefully some hiking/geocaching. I guess Rick is going to need to start building up his back muscles so he can carry E in the backpack for moderate-length hikes!

The weather has finally turned spring-like (even verging on summer-like) around here. This weekend has been mostly sunny and in the 70's and tomorrow is supposed to hit 80 or higher. But, then we will see a crash back into the 50's later in the week. The t-shirt weather is here but briefly this week. We will enjoy it while it lasts.

Yesterday my parents flew in to a local airport for a short visit since the weather was expected to be beautiful all day. My parents own an aircraft electronics business at a small town-owned airport and they both have their private pilot's license. Due to their buisness they also own a small four-seater airplane which allows them to cut their travel time in half when they come to visit us. They arrived at lunchtime and we invited Rick's parents over to join us for some salad, sandwiches, and dessert. It was a really nice visit and the girls were thrilled to have my parents here for the day. It was such a treat for A to be able to include my mom in her pretend play so much that she actually gave Rick's mom the day off telling her "Grandma, you can go and talk or do whatever you want to because I have Grandma G. here to play with today!" Wasn't that so nice of her to allow Grandma T. to do whatever she wanted for a while?? LOL My mom dutifully went into the playroom and played 'classroom' with the girls (she was given the moniker of Mrs. Floogle for that game). She also read them a few stories and played with them for a bit outside. The girls are very excited about their next visit with Grandma and Papa which will hopefully be in about a month. This time we'll make the 3-hour tour down their way for a weekend.

That's about all the news for now. I'm still hovering at the 20-lb. mark with no more losses seen this month. It's kind of frustrating but I'm trying to focus more on how far I've come and less on what I still hope to lose. It will happen eventually - sometimes it just feels like the plateaus will never end! I had bought some new jeans last week and with the change in weather I went out and bought a pair of capris, a skort, and a few t-shirts to get me through this transition weight. I found that I'm actually down 1.5 sizes so I'm currently "between" standard sizes which is kind of annoying. I can almost fit in the lower size but it's just a wee too snug for comfort so I bought a couple of the larger size and hope to be buying the smaller size before too long!

So, that's all for now!

Ciao!

Four Bags of Flour Gone!

Yep. I'm now down 20 pounds since Christmas. It feels good. Other than the fact that my jeans are getting ridiculously loose and I can't find a pair of jeans that fit me to save my life. Why must that be so hard? Can anyone tell me? Geesh.

But, if that's my only complaint for the moment I've got it pretty damn good.

Oh yeah, and there's that little beef I have with Mother Nature at the moment. But, I just don't feel like talking about that four-letter word right now. I'm going to enjoy the relatively warm temps (low 50s today) and the sunshine while it lasts.

I've been pretty consistent with my workouts - generally 5 to 6 days a week. I have not been walking much but getting downstairs to do a video in the evenings after the girls are in bed. I have been switching between a few different workout videos. Most recently I've tried some of the P90 workouts and found that the program is a good match for me right now so I'm adding those into my routine. I like to mix it up a bit so I don't get bored doing the same thing every night. I did that for a while with the Slim in 6 videos and started to really hate it so I haven't actually done that workout for a couple of weeks. I'll get back to it at some point but I needed a break from it.

I really hope the weather starts to cooperate a bit more - sooner rather than later. It will be nice to incorporate some hiking into my exercise routine. The girls love to go geocaching so I'm sure that will be part of our weekend fun in the coming months. And speaking of geocaching (check out geocaching.com for more information), I have a friend who is going to be doing some geocaching workshops to tourists this summer. How cool is that? Geocaching is becoming more mainstream!

Miss E. getting decidedly tired so it's time to get her down for her nap (even though she keeps saying "NO!" when I ask if she is ready for a nap...).

Ciao for now.

Feeling better...

For one, the snow didn't last long - thankfully. As I suspected it was all gone by about noontime. Well, it was gone everywhere but in our shady backyard tundra. We always seem to be the last holdout when it comes to snowmelt, but even our backyard snow was gone by dinnertime. So, I can once again look outside and see early spring with its lovely brown grass and bare tree branches and mud. However, I can once again look forward to the budding leaves and flowers and the warmer temps...which aren't happening this weekend, unfortunately. Tomorrow's high is only going to be 44 degrees...so glad I bought those sleeveless dresses for the girls to wear for Easter. Grumble, grumble. At least I had the foresight to buy sweaters to match.

Secondly, I think I have adequately self-diagnosed (with the help of Dr. Google) my seasonal allergy. I don't know exactly what I am allergic to but I now have strong suspicions that I suffer from early spring allergies to some tree pollen or other. I bought some Claritin at the store on Tuesday and took my first dose. The rest of Tuesday I continued to be miserable and began to think that maybe I just had a cold after all, since the antihistimines weren't cutting it. However, I took a second dose Wednesday morning and by evening I had improved markedly and was even able to manage a decent workout. I am still a bit sniffly but overall I am so much better and the tickly/scratchy throat is gone. So, I'll be on the Claritin for a while. Just when I can stop taking it, I have no idea. I guess I'll be doing some experimenting this year to try to figure out when my allergy season ends. If I recall correctly, my "spring cold" usually lasted about 3-4 weeks in past years. With that in mind, I'll stay on the Claritin until the end of this month and then stop taking it and see how it goes.

And in other news of the weird (and kind of gross), I finally made a much needed appointment with the dermatologist. I take after dear old Dad who is of 100% Irish decent and I have very fair, freckly skin. I always complain to my parents that since I'm the last of five kids that all the melanin was used up by my siblings and there was none left for me. So, I decided it was finally time for a trip to the dermatologist for my first ever skin check - being in such a high-risk population for skin cancers and all. I also had an actual reason to go since I had a small lesion/blemish on my left forearm that started off as an itchy bump (that I picked, of course...thinking it was an ingrown hair) and it never seemed to go back to 'normal' skin. After a month of looking at it and wondering about it I figured I'd just get it looked at by a trained professional. Ya know...since Dr. Google wasn't able to diagnose anything for me and none of the pictures or descriptions I found online were exactly comforting. After a brief visit my skin was deemed mostly healthy - except for that one spot on my arm that he decided to treat by freezing it with liquid nitrogen. He could not be completely certain without a biopsy but felt that it was a common, easily treatable and non-malignant form of skin cancer called basal cell carcinoma. He told me that the freezing treatment should clear it up quickly and that if I still see something there after a month I should come back for a biopsy to rule out something more serious. Hopefully the freezing will do the trick nicely. He did not seemed concerned so I will not worry about it for now. He left me with the parting advice to use copious amounts of sunscreen and to return yearly for check-ups since I'm in such a high-risk group. Okey-dokey. Will do. And for now I have a lovely blister on my forearm to stare at and to serve as an example of why I should use plenty of sunscreen and try to avoid the mid-day rays more often than I have in the past. Oh, and as a bonus I managed to score some highly potent corticosteroid cream to treat some nasty dry patches on my knees that I've had forever, it seems, and just never bothered to find out exactly how to treat them. I have one particuarly stubborn patch on my right knee that he felt might require further treatment with a cortisone injection. But, first I'll give the cream a shot for about a month.

I've been spending a lot of time getting my body ready for shorts and t-shirt season and now maybe my skin will be in better shape for summer, too!

Another Fun Quiz...and I got a 100!

Thanks go to Vexed for finding this one!

Dude! You're 100% from Massachusetts!

Dude! Me and Sully and Fitzie and Sean are gonna hit Landsdowne tonight after the game, hang out at the Beerworks. I'll pick you up at the Coop at 6.

How Massachusetts are you?
Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Enough is Enough!

I'm about ready to send Mother Nature a nasty-gram.

I woke up to a blanket of white shit all over the trees and lawn this morning. It's actually one of those snows that, when received in November you might exclaim "Oh! It snowed overnight! How pretty!" And you start looking forward to mugs of hot cocoa after an afternoon of sledding or making a colossal snowman in the middle of the backyard.

But, when such a snow arrives stealthily whilst one slumbers in the beginning of April... well, it just makes you wake up and cuss at the sight of it and you spend those first moments of trying to wake up in a completely foul mood. Eventually, if you are at all like me, you do get over it and you move on with the Pollyanna-ish hope that the snow will be gone by the end of the day and life can get back to it's regularly scheduled springtime hue. Pretty please.

And this morning to add to my misery I continue to fight a nasty upper respiratory something. Ever since I gave birth to R I seem to have developed the knack for the "springtime cold." In other words, every year for the last 6 years I've developed the same nasty symptoms sometime in mid-late March or early April. It starts to make a girl wonder if it's merely coincidental or if it's an allergy to something that blooms at the onset of spring. I have a stuffy nose, a scratchy throat, and sinus pressure. No fever, no aches, no chills, no headache, and not even particularly tired. Just feeling stuffed up and pretty miserable since I am not a happy camper when I am forced into being a mouth breather. When I Google allergy vs. cold I seem to come up with the conclusion that I indeed am allergic to something. Not sure what, but the pollen indexes point to elm, maple, or poplar/aspen/cottonwood. Of course, it could be a cold and perhaps I'm suseptible to the change of season from winter to spring, but it does seem a bit odd that I am usually well all winter long and then the nice spring weather hits and I'm down for the count for a number of days. It makes me hate spring just a little bit.

However, I'm still not happy about the white shit out there today.

Happy 103rd Birthday to Rick's Grandma!

And while I'm on the subject of birthdays (see meme below) I wanted to give a great big shout-out to Rick's Grandma (Great Nana as she is known to the girls) who is turning 103 today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GREAT NANA!!!

Can you even imagine? 103!? It's amazing to think how the world has changed in her lifetime and all the things she has experienced!

She lives out in California so we won't be able to wish her a Happy Birthday in person - so instead I put together some of the girls artwork and sent it along to her with a card I made. Check it out:

I hope she likes it (and I hope she gets it soon since I was a wee bit late in sending it out...oops)!

Another meme...

This one comes via Karyn of Vexed fame.

Here's what you do:


1. Go to wikipedia and type in your Birthday Month and day only.

Ok, done. August 28th has been entered.

2. List 3 Events that occurred that day.

1565 - St. Augustine, Florida, established. It is the oldest surviving European settlement in the United States.

1943 - In Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation is started.

(you know I had to throw that in with it's reference to my dear beloved Denmark)

1963 - During a 200,000-person civil rights rally in at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his famous I have a dream speech.


(I actually did not know that that speech was given on that date!)


3. List 2 important Birth days.


1908 - Roger Tory Peterson, American ornithologist (d. 1996)

1925 - Donald O'Connor, American singer, dancer, and actor (d. 2003)

...and quite a few others I recognize as well!

4. List 1 Death.

1976 - Anissa Jones, American actress (b. 1958)

Oh crap - I never knew that "Buffy" died on my 6th birthday!

5. List a Holiday or Observance.

Many Christian churches: feast day of Saint Augustine of Hippo.

(Who? I guess I need to go click on that link...)

6. Tag 5 other bloggers.

If you are reading this and have a blog consider yourself tagged. I don't get enough traffic around here to name enough people who might happen to find me and realize they've been tagged.

So there you have it! The date of my birth in all it's glory. Now go mark your calendar!

Camera Happy

Well, after posting that new picture the other day I had decided to go out and get a new 'do for the spring.

Just because I can...I give you "the new Jeanne"...I'll let you decide whether it's 'new' or 'new and improved', but please be kind! :-)

By the way, in case you were on the edge of your seats waiting for the news...I lost four more bucks to the local lottery system. Feh. In much more exciting news I've lost a couple more pounds and am at a total of 18 pounds lost AND we've lost most of the snow in our backyard to the warming spring temperatures! Now, those are things I don't mind losing!

Meri Christmas!

We have not seen our good friend Meri for too long. So long, in fact, that we still had her Christmas presents here at our house and she still had presents (both for Christmas and Rebecca's birthday) at her house that needed to be delivered. We'd been trying to figure out a good weekend to drive into Boston to meet up with her (she lives about 30-45 minutes north of the city) and this weekend it finally all came together. We decided to meet at the Museum of Science and wander the exhibits a bit and then grab lunch. Thanks to our membership with a museum that is part of the ASTC we get free admission to this museum along with tons of others across the nation. Pretty cool!

Estimated launch time was 8:30am to get us to the museum sometime between 10:00 and 10:30 and we actually pulled out of the driveway at 8:35. Quite a feat given the logistics of getting three young children up, dressed, fed, watered and ready for a moderately lengthy car trip. And of course, you can't go on any such day-long excursion without stroller, diaper bag, cooler full of semi-healthy snacks, etc. We even have a DVD player and stash of movies in the car for such trips because without it we would probably never go anywhere that is more than a 30-minute car ride away.

Turns out Meri had some errands that needed to be taken care of that morning so she was running a bit behind but through the wonderful magic of cell phones we were able to leave messages and call each other to determine current locations and the like. I don't know how it all worked before cell phones but I am so glad they exist now. I don't use mine often but in such instances I am forever grateful that I have one. We got to the museum at about 10:30 and after the requisite bathroom trips and attempts to check-in with Meri we decided to just head on into the museum and start wandering around. Meri showed up a short while later and while we managed only a small portion of the museum in the 2.5 hours we were there the kids had fun and there will be other opportunities to return and see the rest!

After the museum visit we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory for lunch and had some time to sit and chat with Meri. I have to say that although the food there was very good the portions were absolutely ridiculous. I could not believe the platter they brought out to me with my fish tacos and assorted sides. I swear it could have practically fed our entire family - given that as a whole the girls don't eat all that much. Insane. I did not come close to finishing my lunch and Rick ate about 2/3 of his salad before claiming he was defeated. Yikes. That's just wrong. To be done in by a salad of all things. Geesh. The girls both ordered some "mini" burgers from the appetizer menu - they got a platter of four such "mini" burgers that were each about the side of a typical fast food kids burger! Again - totally insane. Had we know we would've ordered one serving and split it between the two of them and still might've had leftovers. Oh, and they had no kid's menu, by the way. What's up with that? I can't believe that printing half a page of kid-friendly choices - with appropriate portioning!!! - was out of the question when their entire menu was about 25 pages long (with copious ads, I might add. Huh?). Anyway, that's my restaurant vent for the day. We don't have a Cheesecake Factory near us and the experience did not have me excited about a return visit so I doubt we'll go back. If we do I'll likely want to split an entree with someone else to make the portions more reasonable (and the bill cheaper!).

Here are a few pics of our museum visit to share:

The girls in front of the "wave" aquarium.

Rick hamming it up with E.

Meri explaining early animation special effects to A.
R on a swing (looking a bit unhappy because I accidently bonked her on the head with that wooden crossbar when I tried to help her into the swing. Ooops.)


And for fun comparison here is R last year on the blue swing.

A on the same swing.

And again for comparison - A on the swing last year.

The whole gang in front of a satellite image map of Boston.


After the museum visit and the lunch stop we headed to Meri's car and picked up the gifts she had for the girls and then headed to our car in a different parking area to open all the gifts. The girls were thrilled with their gifts. The older girls got some awesome activity books that have been keeping them quite busy of late and a science kit and Miss E. got an activity book and a play purse with all sorts of accessories to put in it! R also got a game called Cadoo as her birthday gift. Meri is a fellow board game lover so we often find board games as gifts for each other and now the next generation is benefitting from that shared interest. Cool beans! We got Meri a Tinkerbelle snowglobe to add to her ever-growing Disney snowglobe collection and a nice-smelling gift box that had a candle, bath gel, and other assorted things with which to pamper herself. Hope you enjoy them, Meri!

It was awesome to spend some time with Meri! It would have been great if we had even MORE time but I guess that is just a great excuse for another road trip as the weather gets warmer and we can come visit her at her place of abode. Those visits usually include a trip to the beach which the girls always love (as do the rest of us!). I predict fun times in our near future!

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In other news, I figured since I've dropped a bit more than 15 pounds I'd update my profile pic. Here's a side-by-side of the old and the new. What do you think?




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Lastly, I turned in my two winning lottery tickets and decided to just go for broke. I asked for four more quick picks for tonight's draw. Wish me luck (or call me an idiot - your choice).

Maybe I'm not so stupid after all...

StupidTester.com says I'm 8% Stupid! How stupid are you? Click Here!">

Some days I really do feel like the last nearly 8 years of being pregnant and/or nursing has really sucked a lot of brain cells out of me. All that effort to grow a new person (times 3) and then nourish them - they were exclusively breastfed for the first 5-6 months of life - and let's not even mention the whole life-sapping sleep deprivation that goes along with it. But, of course, they are worth it. And I truly hope that whatever life/brains/smarts they drained out of me went directly into their own "smart bank" so they can become brilliant in whatever they choose to be in this life. But, according to that scientific test that I took online I still have a few functional brain cells left and they actually work pretty well for me. Good to know.

Now, I just hope they are still there and still working when I take that big leap back into the workforce. After such a long hiatus it's a scary proposition to think about.

And speaking of work, I need to embark in some serious home study edumacation so I can keep my standing as a licensed professional. The whole PDP (professional development points) and CEU (continuing education units) thing has me completely annoyed, but at the same time I do understand the value of the requirement. There does need to be continued learning and education at all levels of one's profession - but my main gripe is the cost. Here I am not working for the time being, but needing to maintain certification - and the cost can be quite prohibitive! Luckily, there are plenty of home study courses available because if I had to travel to take all my courses I'd have to also factor in travel, food and lodging expenses (not to mention figuring out the child care situation). But, even the home study courses can be expensive. If I am lucky I can find courses that run about $15/unit but most of the courses that I'd actually be really interested in taking end up costing way more than I can afford (up to as much as $50/unit). So, a typical course that is about 6 units would cost as much as $300 and I need at least 10 units/year for my state licensure (and let's not even talk about the hundreds I spend to maintain my level of licensure and certification while I'm on hiatus...ugh). My certifications require even more that that (but they can overlap with the licensing requirements). Due to insane prices, I end up not doing the ones that I really would like to take and instead opt for something more affordable, yet not really all that interesting. Sad, isn't it?

Right now, I have a book staring me in the face. I need to read it and then go online and take a test. The book is about ADHD and associated disorders. Something I really do need to learn more about but something not hugely a 'passion' for me so I am finding it hard to get motivated to start the book (which is essentially a moderately thick text book - read: dry and unappealing to snuggle up in bed with at night). I'm tempted to go online and take the test to see how well I do without even reading the book, but then I'd feel guilty for not reading the book. So, I just need to buckle down and do it. Oh, and this particular book/test was a pretty decent dealio as far as cost per unit goes. The company that is offering this home study course allows you to buy the book and test from them or just the test. I found a copy of the book used online and paid about $6 for it instead of the retail price of about $60. The test itself costs $59 and so for a total of $65 I'll be getting eight home study credits out of the ten that I need for the year. That works out to be approximately $8 per unit - by far the cheapest I've ever seen. But, still, having to fork out $65 (and eventually more get the additional credits for the year) is not helping the budget right about now.

I have to keep my eye on the prize, though, and realize that I will reap the rewards later when I do go back to work. It's just hard to see the forest for the trees sometimes and to think of it as an investment in the future when the checkbook is currently on the lean side.

I am speechless...

I am utterly and completely speechless. OK, well maybe not speechless but completely astonished and feelin' the love this afternoon in a big way!

I was pulling into my driveway today after getting A from preschool and the mailman pulled up to the driveway and beeped to get my attention. I parked my car in the garage and walked down to meet him and he handed me a wad of catalogues, junk mail, bills and other unwanted crap destined for the recycle bin. Then he reached into his back seat and pulled out a sizable box and told me I'd received something from France.

"France?" I asked. "I don't know anyone from France..."

"Yes, see it's stamped on the front as being from Fra-jeel." he told me, and pointed to the red ink stamp marks on the top of the package.

Um. yeah. OK. A little bit of quirky postal humor, I guess. Whatever...

Moving right along.

So, as I carry the package back to the house I look at the return address and find out it is actually from none other than the fabulous Tuxbaby! She posted on her blog recently about mailing off some packages to some friends. Little did I realize (or even imagine!) that one of those packages was destined for my home -- and I even left her a comment to the effect of "hope your friends enjoy their surprises." Ha!

Well, I'm here to say that I am absolutely BLOWN AWAY by my surprise. I mean seriously. BLOWN. AWAY.

I have known Tuxbaby for going on 8 years now - since we were both pregnant with our February 2000 bundles of joy (first baby for me, second for her). Actually, now that I think of it I know I started posting on the board from the very first day it popped up on the iVillage website (we have since moved our party to a more private locale) but I don't really know for sure when Tuxbaby started posting. But, regardless, we've been friends for a very long time and she has been a wonderful online buddy in so many, many ways. She sent me a lovely note in the package and among other things she wrote that she feels like we've met even though we haven't. And it's so true. She also said that someday we must meet in person - also very true! I know it will happen someday. Preferably sooner rather than later...

Tuxbaby started out as a "mommy" friend and we shared the common bond of like-aged children going through similar stages of development. We rejoiced in their accomplishments and we vented at their ability to bring us to the brink of insanity on certain days. But, during this time she has become so much more to me. She has been there with advice, words of comfort and commiseration, and plenty of happy congrats - whatever I've been going through she's been on the other end listening, commenting and supporting me. And I hope I've been as good a friend when she's needed a sounding board, someone to cheer her on and congratulate her, or to provide support during those tough stretches. In addition, we were some of the original members of the FFF "sister" board, which stands for the Feb Flab Fighters -- a group that started when the moms of those February babies decided they needed to shed some of those unwanted pounds. That board has seen active times and been neglected in turn. But, Tuxbaby is always there when someone posts - to lend an ear and provide support and encouragement. She is a true inspiration with her own personal 'battle of the bulge' and she has turned her flab to FAB with some rather intense workouts as well as a complete overhaul of her nutrition and daily eating habits. She's now a powerhouse of fitness and energy and she's now got a cute Hiker-guy who shares her love of being fit...as well as her love of chocolate and ice cream! They make such a wonderful couple and I am thrilled that she has such a great guy in her life. :-)

Last but certainly not least, she is a very talented crafter and we've shared our love of so many different crafts - card-making and cross-stitch in particular! Which is what brings me to the amazing gift that appeared in the mail today. I was so touched and honored to have received this gift. Words cannot adequately convey just how special it is to me and how very much it is loved and appreciated. I know how much time and energy went into such a gift and I am so blessed to have someone out there who cares for me so much that she gave of herself and her time to produce this incredible work of art! I am truly overwhelmed by the spirit of love, generosity, and friendship that is in each and every little stitch.

OK, folks...the moment you've been waiting for (if you didn't already just scroll down to take a peek!) -- you just have to check this out. Is this not the most amazingly thoughtful and spectacular gift EVER?

Yes, that *is* in fact a cross-stitch masterpiece (as much as it might look like a photograph at first glance)!

Tuxbaby said it reminded her of me and how things might be with all my "girly-girls" here at home. I love it and it will certainly serve as a reminder, as the years pass, of my sweet little girls and their special bond, but it will also be a treasured keepsake of the bond that Tuxbaby and I have created and continue to develop through sharing so much of our lives with each other with each passing year.

You are a blessing to me, Tuxbaby! Someday I will be able to meet you in person and give you the HUGE HUGS that I would love to be giving you right now. But, until then, I just want to let you know that you are the best and I love you dearly! Thank you for being my friend and for this special gift! MWAH!