Boy, am I tired!

The last 3 days seem to be a blur. Saturday I went to pick my mother up, went to the meat market, grabbed a pizza (it was 4:30 and I realized that I had only had a glass of orange juice and some chocolate chips), came home to drop off my mother and meats, went through my grocery list again and headed out to Wal-mart. I had left my house to get mom at about 2:30 and got home from Wal-mart at 10:30. While out, one of the tires kept going low. I put air in it 2 times.

By Sunday morning it was low...again. We were suppose to go to the anniversary party for my uncle and aunt. We ended up staying home. Chris had gotten a ride into work so I could have the van. When I saw the tire going flat again it didn't sit right with me to fill it up again, put 5 kids in a car and drive 30 minutes on the highway in the rain to go to a party for people that I haven't seen in a decade. Part of me was disappointed but I had to put it into perspective. My phone hasn't been ringing off the hook--in fact, I don't talk or see the family unless it is a wedding or funeral. Go or don't go...it is all the same to them. HOWEVER, I get into the car with the tire the way it is, something happens to my mother or one of the kids---it would bring devastation to my family---and when I say my family I mean my household, my sister and my parents. Our lives would be changed FOREVER. The family at the anniversary party...uh, they wouldn't know the difference...all their lives would go on just the same. Okay, I know that sounds kind of cruel of me...but it is the truth. In all honesty, the main reason I wanted to go was to be nosy and kind of proud (WOW!! THAT IS HARD TO ADMIT). I was always the one in the shadow, got married young and no one gave much thought to. This was my chance to go and 1--see all the family gossip first hand and 2--show everyone "hey, look at me. I got my life together. Married for 16 years, 5 pretty good kids--that I homeschool and a RN degree." You know what...doesn't God have a way of fixing our wagon when we need it. My intentions were not God Honoring. I just have 2 things to say about that---Thank God for the cross. I can see my sin, ask for forgiveness and know that it was wiped clean. Secondly, I am thankful that God chose to only use a flat tire to humble me. I am thankful He didn't use something more painful to get my attention.

My sister did come pick up my mother at my house to bring her. I decided to use the rainy afternoon to get some cleaning done that---well lets just say it was overdue. I can't believe I did this but I took before and after pictures. How crazy of me to want to show the world my disaster! Here goes:

First up...what is suppose to be Emily's pack and play/changing table. Don't ask me how it became such a mess. Usually we put stuff in there to keep AWAY from Emily (isn't that a little backwards).

I emptied it, sorted everything out and put the stuff away in the right place. After that I disinfected it. WOW!! Now there is actually room for her in it!!


This is the spare room off the dinning room (you see the changing table in the corner). This room has been pretty much a mess since I got home from the convention. NOT to this extent though. I had started separating things into a few piles when I took the picture. BTW..ALL that soda you see isn't for us. My niece's graduating party is this month and I am in charge of beverages.

Tah-dah!! Look...there is a rug under all that!!!


Here was a biggy. Cleaning out the kitchen (food) cabinets. I had taken things out of this cabinet and THEN thought to take a picture. Believe me...this cabinet WAS much worse.


Yes, if you look closely I do have medication in the kitchen cabinet. The bathroom is one of the worse places to store meds because of the steam. It can change the potency of the meds. I am looking for a new place to put them. I was thinking of in my bedroom closet.


This was all the food I took out of the cabinets. It is amazing what you find when you clean cabinets out. Like: 3 packs of egg noodles, 3 cake mixes, 6 jars spaghetti sauce, 8 can kidney beans, a box of cereal not open that you didn't know you had, 4 lasagna noodle packs (which is really funny because I only make lasagna a couple of times a year if I am lucky) and 2 jars of peanut butter each 1/2 full (that drives me crazy). That is just to name a few. Then of course you find all the expired food too.


Are you ready for this....drum roll please......




Beautiful isn't it. Now ready for the fun part, I did all this yesterday. Today I finished up my grocery shopping since I couldn't on Saturday. I hit 4 stores (Target, BJ's, Stop and Shop, and Shaw's) plus ran into Michael's. I have a atleast a 1/2 of a table full of food that needs to be put away in the cabinets. (My hubby is wonderful. He puts away the fridge and freezer things for me because I have a hard time dealing with the coldness (I have Raynaud's). I have given up though and I am waving the white flag right now. I can't use that much energy, physical or mental, to do it. It will get done in the morning.

I am not sure what the night is going to bring either. While I was out Emily started getting fussy for Chris and cried when put to bed. This is VERY unusual for her. Sure enough, when I got home I took her temp. Axillary it was 100.6 so if I took it rectal it would be about 2 degrees higher. I gave her some Tylenol and we did some cuddles. After about 45 minutes or so she went to bed without any problems. I will be up during the night checking on her to make sure her temp doesn't rise. With us not knowing if she has a seizure disorder it puts me a little more on edge when she gets a fever. I never know if this could set one off.

One last thing, CJ got his braces FINALLY off Wednesday. I wanted to post a picture last week for Wordless Wednesday but he asked me not to. He wanted me to wait until after co-op last week so we could see if anyone noticed. I will be posting a picture of him with them off this week on Wednesday.