It's late....Not tired....What to do? BLOG!!!!

I am a sunbeam teacher. This means I teach the 3 year olds. I have 5 children in my class that come regularly. I am a mother to 6 children of my own and 4 of them are older than 3 so teaching this class should be a piece of cake, right? Today was my second day teaching this class. Today was also the second day that they "kicked my butt!" (Sorry Mom about the language!)
I came home from church at 12:30, changed out of my church clothes back into my pajamas, ate a slice of leftover pizza, climbed back into bed and slept for 4 HOURS! Got up with a bigger headache than when I laid down, fixed my family chocolate cake and ice cream for dinner, and then called my dear friend in the Primary Presidency and cried in her ear for the next 2 hours. I have a new plan of attack! It involves a rope, food, and a big smile! I will not be defeated....yet!

I wanted to share a little update on my "procedure" last week. The diagnosis: NOT Cancer! I have 25 cm of raw colon (sorry this is a little gross) which explains the severe bleeding. I am experimenting with some meds to find what will work and I am suppose to eliminate ALL stress from my life. Sure...Bring on the Prozac!!!

(I wanted to share a picture with this story so I went into Google and typed in "picture of stress". I found this little stress test. It's called:

THE CATTLEMAN'S STRESS TEST

The Stress-Test consists of viewing a photo of 2 Dolphins...

-The dolphins appear to be nearly identical when viewed by stress-free individuals. The test is not sufficiently accurate to detect mild stress differentials, but is very accurate on individuals with higher stress-levels.
-Deviations in appearance between the 2 dolphins are indicators of potential stress-related problems and the deviations, if any, may also indicate the source of stress.
-If you experience significant deviations, you may want to consider taking things a little easier...

Here's the image... Ha! Ha! Dad, this one was for you! How's your stress level today?)

And "Once there was a snowman tall,tall, tall?"

On Saturday, A went to a birthday party. In order to stop feeling sorry for herself because she was not invited, S went outside to play in the snow with the little neighbor girl. S came in a about an hour later, very excited about the snowman that they had built. She was very insistent that I needed to come right away and see it. She had been gone a while so I was expecting...a snowman. J was sitting at the table laughing to himself. He said, "Oh, you're going out to see Sludge." I asked him what he meant by that and he said, "It's just a pile of sludge." S was very offended by his comment. I told him to be nice. I told him I was sure that the snowman was great and "sludge" was kind of a harsh word to use on something that his sister had worked so hard on. He just continued to laugh to himself. I opened the back door and there was....

Sludge!

I think he's the cutest pile of "sludge" ever!

Cool Tip!

I just found this fun way to put a signature at the bottom of my posts. I'm checking it out to see if it works. It looks like it does. YEAH!!!!!

If you want your own signature, this is how I did it. I went to the webpage http://www.mylivesignature.com/
I clicked on the Don't want to register PROCEED button. I chose the first one, create a new signature, then the first one again, using the signature creation wizard. From there I just followed each step until I got to the Finished page. I clicked on Want to use this signature? I then clicked on generate HTML code, them the top choice, generate a choice for my handwritten signature. Then I copied the html code.

From there I came back over to my blog page, went into the settings page, then formatting. At the bottom of that page it says POST TEMPLATE. In that box paste your html code and (drum roll.....) Ta-Da! Your signature will automatically be in your post box when you are ready to post.

For all of you who already knew how to do this, SORRY! But I just get so excited when I figure something new out all on my own, I just want to share it with EVERYBODY!!!!!

So, go get your custom signatures!

I'm doing the Friday Dance...Calvin and Hobbs style!

Comment Graphics at pYzam.com

These two seem so intense in their little dance but that's sort of how this past week has gone. Bring on the weekend! I'm ready!

Gratitude Thursday

This week has been a little discouraging for me. I don't know why. The kids are back in school, everyone is finally healthy, the hype of the holidays is over, I am completely broke, gas prices keep getting higher, we have 5 inches of snow and it's 20 degrees outside. I just feel so negative inside.

I was blog browsing this morning and I came across Laughadaisy's blog through 2 Kids and Tired (both blogs I totally recommend!) Today Laughadaisy's post was about some of the things that she is grateful for. Reading her list made me realize that I need to change my attitude. I am feeling negative because I am choosing to. So now I choose to find some things to be grateful for. (Ha-Ha! An attitude of gratitude! Not intentional but it works!)

1. I am grateful for my husband! He is my Rock! He is very patient with me. He loves me no matter how silly, thoughtless or brilliant(sometimes I really am!) my actions are. He has sacrificed so much in his life because he chooses to be with and love me. He believes I have a good heart and that I am capable of so much more than I believe that I am. He helps me to set my sites high and not settle for less.

2. I am grateful for Z! He is my Hero! What would I do without Z? He can do anything and I expect him to do everything. He tries so hard to do what is right and to be completely honest. His personality radiates goodness. I love that he has started to give me a hug every morning. I love that he talks to me about everything. He called home last night from Young Men's and asked to talk to me. He just wanted to tell me that he was on his way home.

3. I am grateful for J! He is my Warrior! He is always rescuing something or fighting off some demon. His love and compassion for all creatures touches my heart. He is funny and he makes me laugh. He has an amazing memory and I love to hear him retell lines to movies or books or conversations over and over and over. His sensitivity to the spirit and things that are sacred is very humbling to me.

4. I am grateful for S! She is my Angel! She is everything that I am not but that I wish I was. She is a hard worker. She loves to clean my house. I love that she is always writing letters of love and appreciation or making little gifts or drawing pictures for her friends and family. She strives for perfection in all things. She is accepting of things good and has zero tolerance for anything less. I have so much to learn from her.

5. I am grateful for A! She is my All-star! I love that she is so kind and honest and full of goodness. She is very good with little children. She is always so happy. She surrounds herself with things that make her happy. She loves to learn and try new things. She is very forgiving and very rarely does anything wrong. She is very strong and brave. She often tells me that "being brave means doing what's right, even when it's hard!"

6. I am grateful for K! She is my Princess! Whatever she wants, she pretty much gets. I love that she is so determined and confident. She is always dancing and singing and talking, talking, talking! She loves who she is. She has a big spirit in a little body. She makes life around her beautiful and exciting.

7. I am grateful for H! He is my Champ! He loves to play rough. He is always sticky and messy. He likes to be really loud. And he's full of hugs and kisses. He has my grandpa's smile. He has big eyes that study everything around him carefully. He is very aware of everything at all times. I am so glad I chose to have one more. He was definitely worth all that I went through!

I feel so much better now. This has definitely put me in a better mood. What would I do without my family?! Thank you Laughadaisy for helping me to remember what is really important today.

Have a great day!

Taking a moment to vent...

Dear Mr. Clause,


My kids have been back to school now for 3 days since Christmas and the only thing they can talk about is all the things that their friends got from you for Christmas that they did not get. Apparently, the HOT item this year was the Wii and for some reason, you did not give my children one. Also, every child has their own new cell phone and ipod. And once again, my children got jipped! Were they not good enough this year? Did you just run out? Can you help me out here? I need some answers!



Feeling a little scrooged,

mom2my6(disappointed)kids

Going Nuts!

Yesterday I had a little...."procedure" done to hopefully find out some more answers as to why I have not been feeling well the past year. I didn't realize that I had to fast 24 hours before. I figured the "prep" I had to do 12 hours before my appointment was enough. So, after I ate lunch on Sunday and then read my instructions of things to do before my appointment, I got the joy of my finger meeting my throat as I faked that I had not eaten anything for the previous 24 hours. Then it was on to the "prep." It was AWFUL!!!!! I didn't sleep at all that night because I was so sick and I was anxious to get up and get on with things. Monday morning my parents came to watch my younger kids because I had to have Hubby at the procedure to drive me home. Hubby ended up having court that morning so my Dad got to drive me. Thanks Dad!

As the nurse was putting in my IV she told me that I would be "consciously sedated." Basically she said that I would be awake but I would not remember any of it. "GREAT! Now I will be talking and rambling about whatever and I will basically have no control over it AND I won't remember it." Hubby got to the office before they put me out. The nurse went to get him so that he could come in and "say good-bye" to me! Wow! Do I feel nervous now?

Let me just say, I HATE MEDICINE THAT MAKES ME GIVE UP CONTROL OF MYSELF! I don't take sleeping medicine or anything that causes drowsiness. It doesn't make me feel better. I just fight it the whole time. I was in Jr. High when I had my tonsils out and I fought that anesthesia. I came out of that surgery screaming and fighting. The next time I had to be put out was when I had my D&C 4 years ago. I hate the time between them giving me the medicine and then everyone gets to stand around staring at me waiting for me to go out. They told me to start counting and I only got to about 8. This time I was not sure what would happen since it was a conscious sedation. The nurse came in and opened the window and showed me that it had started to snow. I was looking at the snowflakes and the doctor came in and started asking me some questions about my lab work and about my prep and the snow and then I was waking up in a really small room and I didn't recognize anything. Soon Hubby came in and I could see the clock out in the hall. It was 1 1/2 hours later. I asked Hubby what was going on. He said that they had delayed the procedure due to other emergencies. (They hadn't. I fell for it!) The doctor came in a few minutes later and started to give me discharge instructions. I started to tell him something and he said "We already talked about that." "When?" "Earlier today." "Oh, I don't remember." Then I started to tell him something else. He smiled and said, "I know." "How?" "You told me." "Really. Today?" "Uh-huh...." "Um, what else did I tell you?" He just winked and smiled.

Shouldn't there be a law against talking to patients when they are under the influence of drugs?!!

Not that I have anything to hide. I talk so much all the time that I probably would have volunteered all kinds of information and more if they had just asked. The thought that I never even knew when I went out bothers me. They didn't give me any kind of warning and the last thing I remember was me talking, talking, talking....I don't trust that my brain told my mouth to stop talking or that my mouth obeyed. It rarely does when I am IN total control.

So, today I am doing great because I have some answers about my health and I feel like I am on a road to recovery but I am worried about how much talking I did yesterday and I don't like the idea that I have no memory of those things that I said to the doctor.

Okay, this is crazy! I worry way too much about the things I remember saying to people and now I am worrying about the things I can't remember saying. AAAHHHH!!!!.......

Bad Dreams

I am looking for some advice...

I have 2 children who have bad dreams quite regularly. Almost every night!(not at the same time though) They will come into my room crying and scared and tell me they had a bad dream again. My response is "Go get a drink, go to the bathroom and say your prayers. If that doesn't work come back and get in bed with me." Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don't.

I remember as a kid always having bad dreams. They were usually the same two dreams: being chased by Indians who wanted to steal all us kids from our family (I have nothing against Indian people, they were just so wild and scarey in my dreams) or climbing the black pipe in the basement that went to the toilet upstairs and then falling and falling and falling...and waking up before I hit the bare cement floor. I would go into my mom's room and she would say basically the same thing to me, "Get a drink, go to the bathroom, and say your prayers." Only she wouldn't let me sleep with her so I spent many nights sleeping on the floor next to her bed on the fuzzy animal skin-looking rug. I finally decided that I was getting too old to go to my mom's bed each night when I had a bad dream so I came up with a plan...If I kept my feet covered at night then I wouldn't have bad dreams. I know, it sounds nutty, but it worked! Even today, I am obsessed with having my feet covered with blankets at nights no matter what the temperature is because then I don't have bad dreams.

Anyways.....My question is this:

-Do your children have bad dreams?

-WHY do they have bad dreams?

-And, What do you do to help them through it?

(I guess I actually had 3 questions...Oops!)