just some thinking

I was reading a friend's blog reacently and she spoke of her battle with depression. First, I had no idea that she was fighting this monster everyday, I was suprised. She also has anxiety attacks. Double whammy! She made some good points about how our society still has a stigma attached to Depression, and taking medication to heal it.

So, I did some thinking and replaying the last couple of months and it seems my depression meds aren't working as well as in the past. My Dr. has given me some markers to look for and when they get worse I know I'm in trouble. In reviewing this summer, I could see red flags everywhere. What's really funny is when I mentioned to Tim that I made an appointment to change my Rx because my depression was getting to me again -- he didn't bat an eye. His non-response was a clear "YES IT IS" ;)

The Dr. changed me to a new med. It seems to be working well - hurray! But silly me made the mistake of going off caffiene. After a week of nearly falling asleep at my desk, no inertia to do anything and trouble sleeping at night, and gaining a few pounds even- I decided that I'd rather not be that healthy! For me, it seems caffiene might be an important part of having a good life (and a really important part of those around me enjoying my having my good life, tee hee.)

Now, I'm 3 days back on caffiene and all is right with the world. I've gotten tons accomplished at home and work this week. If feel great and I'm back to losing some weight too. Remind me if I get the crazy notion to be healthy and drink water instead of Diet Coke what a miserable idea that is indeed!!!

Have I offended God or something????

Ok class, let's recap.

March, windstorm, damage includes 1. tree takes out deck 2. outhouse tipped over 3. soffets and gutters blown off all over house.

Then, June 7th flood. 3 feet of water in the basement sends stuff floating. We lose the water heater and furnace.

And last night, a thunderstorm blew down part of three trees. The insurance company had just finished the gutters a week ago and the boom lift was parked in the yard. They'll be glad to know it got missed. Tim's truck was not so lucky.

So I have to ask, did I do something to you God and you're not happy with me?? Seriously. We've had homeowner's insurance for 17 years and never made a claim until this year, and today is claim #3 in the space of 6 months. Suffice it to say, I'll not be purchasing any lotto tickets any time soon ;) !

Ah, Friday ;)

Well, the week is about over, and man am I ready for a weekend, sort of. Ellen has a friend spending the night tonight. We'll pick her up later and then go rent a movie for them. Probably do pizza for dinner. The hard part will be keeping Marci out of their way. Ellen & Marci are getting very territorial about their friends, to put it mildly. So, we'll see how it goes.

Ellen, Hannah, & Candice at the Band Concert in May. Candice is the one spending the night tonight.

I think we'll put the DVR player downstairs in the living room and the two slumber girls can veg out there with their movie and then cuddle up on the couches to sleep if they want. Max will have to watch his cartoons elsewhere in the AM. Maybe Max, Marci & I can play cards up in my room to stay out of the slumber girls way?? Sounds like an almost plan, and in between hands I can fold and sort laundry - aha! I've planned the evening ;) Now I just have to put the plan into action, LOL.

found the camera - added pix to posts!

Yippee! I found the camera (yep, right where I'd looked a gazillion times, *sheesh*) So I went back and added some pictures to previous posts ~ ENJOY!!

7th Inning Stretch!

OH YEAH!! Ellen's room is done, come on now, do the Snoopy happy dance with me . . . . . ;) ALL 3 KIDS ROOMS ARE DONE -- I'm one seriously happy momma!

So really it's like a 7th innning stretch - the kids rooms are done, now we might as well spring clean the rest of the house (please, don't tell me that spring was months ago, I'd rather live in my happy little world!) We'll lay off the cleaning tonight (I have quilting to do anyway) and then finish up on Saturday. That will let us bask in the glow of accomplishment all day Sunday.

For the details on Ellen's room: we moved her bed in front of her big window and it looks beautiful - and we took out a total of 3 1/2 bags of trash over the two days of cleaning *sheesh* And she's already washed, folded and put away 3 loads of laundry.

Max pulled out two HUGE totes of Legos last night, and when I came downstairs about 9pm - he was asleep in bed, all Legos put away where they belong, today's clothes in the hamper, and not a single thing out of place - wow!

Marci tidied her room before bed and with a little prodding, got everything where it went and snuggled in bed for some Gameboy time before lights out.

BUT, the camera is lost in my quilting room, so no pix of any of these miraculous rooms yet. I promise some as soon as I find the darn thing. Cause it's an awesome sight to behold. Of course, I can barely bend over due to all the bending and squatting over the last few days picking stuff up of their floors, LOL.

Now to claim victory over the rest of the house, Off I Go!



AHA! Found the camera, enjoy the pix ;) First Ellen's:





then Marci's:

2 down, the big one to go!

Max's room is done - hurray! All clean, new closet system installed (and a fair amount of my stored crap thrown out!), the desk moved to where it should have been in the first place *finally*, and new shelves on one wall. He can play his XBox from a sprawled out place in bed - he's the king and lovin' it!

SO, tonight . . . . . .it's Ellen's room or bust :) I did a little in there last night, but seriously, she just has soooooooo mucccchhhhhh crap. And the tiny pieces of paper??? What on earth does she do in there, chew up paper like a squirrel and then spit it out and hide it all over the floor??????? I have no idea, but each time I clean her room I find tons of meaningless scraps of paper. Maybe she was a hamster in a previous life?? Hey, it's better than any other explanation I can find, LOL! Anyway, wish me luck, I'll need it. I'll stop and pick up some extra Diet Coke on the way home to sustain me in my cleaning frenzy. There is a bag of Andes mints stashed in the bottom drawer of the fridge as my reward when all 3 kids' rooms are done :)

The plan is to try to post some pix tomorrow (especially since my posts have been lacking pix for many, many moons). Off I go into battle - of sorts, LOL~

kids cleaning their rooms - the never ending battle!

Ah, the always present, messy kid room. The bane of all mother's exsistance. I'm wondering if cavekids had messy rooms too, you know, a pile of leaves under their sleeping mat, some old animal bones strewn across the floor like prehistoric Legos?? Anyway, silly me, I tried to tame the messy kid rooms in my house, what was I thinking?

We were at the library and Marci wanted to check out a movie. "Fine, but you have to clean your room before you watch it." Ok, and into the check-out pile it goes. Max comes up with a movie and gets the same response, he promptly turns on his heel and puts the movie back on the shelf! Ellen never even tried, she knows better.

So, Monday Marci asked for my help cleaning her room. I really would rather help and then I know that all the trash is actually thrown away and items are really put away. We pitched in and by nightfall her room was spic and span and rearranged to her liking. Several loads of laundry to do, but for the most part it's DONE! Max tackled his too and it is way better, but still has some clutter to pick up/throw away/put away, and a load or two of laundry. But Ellen, oh my sweet little Ellen . . . . she spent more than an hour sorting out tons of little Polly Pocket purses, shoes and tiny accesories!!!!! Her room is still a pig pen, but she wants me to be all excited about her "progress" . . . . . . . seriously! I helped some yesterday and got more done in an hour than she has in two days. Her version of cleaning is to move stuff in piles on her floor, over to the other side of the room, but still in piles on the floor. I guess the concept of put away does not exsist in her creative little world *sigh*. Us working together in her room always ends in bickering and fighting and tears on her part. So an hour is about all we're good for. Maybe tonight's hour will be even more productive - perhaps we can find her bed ;)

Yippee! Another ribbon ;)

WOW!! I went to the fair and checked out my quilt -- it had a purple "Champion" ribbon on it, WooHoo! And the blue ribbon on it had a star on it as well, which those who know about fair ribbons tell me is extra good!! YIPPEE YIPPEE YIPPEE!! I won my own ribbon for my own quilt, how cool. Here are some pix: the first one still has my design marked on it, the second is after dunking it to remove the marks, but before binding it and then blocking it to lie flat.

OK, just a little excited there ;) But it was a terrific surprise.

The fourth of July holiday was really nice at our house. We cooked out and even broke out the deep fryer. Tim had a big unhealthy feast in mind, that's for sure. The kids and I went to the fair in the evening (it was $15 bracelet night for rides, can't miss that, it's the only way you can afford to ride the rides, LOL!) But we were back home by 8:30 - in time for fireworks. Tim's mom came over and brought even more fireworks, so the kids had a grand time. I called it a night early and was in bed after only 15 minutes of fireworks or so. And I think one of the girls was right behind me, tee hee. Some of us may never adjust to Daylight Savings Time!! All in all, it was a lovely day.

Didn't get much quilting done. I do have a QoV on the frame and hope to finish it up tonight. Then there is a T-shirt quilt for a customer to do. I'm looking at more stencils today for a large wholecloth quilt. I have the bug and want to try more ;) Off I go to lose some money ;)

More Trapunto

Oh my! The purple shadow coloring on the latest trapunto piece was hard to achieve. I began to question whether it was even possible, but finally, after buying half-yards of 6 different purples - I found the ONE! It was a satin, instead of cotton quilting fabric and worked great. I can't post pictures yet because it is a gift and I wouldn't want to spoil it.

The 4-H fair starts Friday, and I turned in a small wholecloth quilt in the misc. catagory. The ladies checking items in suggested that catagory instead of the baby quilt because mine is more formal, and not really baby-ish, although it is that size. I hope, hope, hope, that it does well. The kids want to go to the fair on Friday so maybe I can find out how it did then???

On the home front, the kids are just certain that Tim & I are breaking some kind of child labor laws because we are making them do the dishes and tidy the kitchen nightly. We divided it into three parts 1. wash dishes 2. dry dishes & vaccuum kitchen 3. tidy kitchen & dining room. Now, I'm really proud of myself for figuring out that the worst scenerio for the dish washer is to find dishes left over from last night, right? So the dish washer is the tidy-upper on the night before they wash - - are you with me?? That way if THEY overlook something in their clearing off the table or cleaning up the kitchen, it's their own fault and they deserve to wash it! I bet $20 bucks they don't overlook much after it happens once! So, tonight is Ellen on dishes, Max on tidying, and Marci on drying. Hopefully there will be less whining, but I'm not betting the farm on it, LOL!