Yes my t-shirt is red.

Yes my t-shirt is red. No i do not work at staples so i couldn't say if they carry sharpies in one packs.

Feels Good

Listed our broken lawn mower on craigslist at 7:00 am. Had 28 emails requesting it, most to pick up today. Had to take the ad down before 9:00 am to make the flood stop in my inbox. I love giving stuff to people who can use it instead of the dump. Some of my favorite emails were these: "do you have a picture?" Seriously. It's free and if you're going to be difficult, I'm not likely to reply when I have 27 other people wanting it too. Sorry. "does it have any sort of writing across it anywhere?" If you want to know what brand or model it is, just ask. I'm not a moron and despite my unwanting to repair the machine, I can read a make and model. Maybe I misunderstood your question. Were you wanting to know if it had gang graffiti spray painted across it? No. "do you know about how it would be?" No sir. I'm not sure how it may be. While it was in our care, it behaved quite nicely. Stayed put in the shed every time I put it there. As far as I know it didn't sneak out to meet up with the leaf blower down the street to smoke motor oil or anything. If you were wanting to know how old it is, I have no idea. Bought at a yard sale three years ago. Sorry.

kk;jadi iopse;lrjpo aij nkl;jel a;o bij al; kejrai;lu pioa jbkl j eiauri oa ehjk sd shd Bill Unfortunately for Bill, I don't speak "webding".

In any case, it'll be gone by lunch today to a self employed landscaper/small engine repairman. Perfect. Also sold a printer on Saturday taking our household total of printers down to only three. I'm working on it people. I'm working on it. I'm pretty sure the boss will want to keep two in the end because of different functionalities on each one, but no more than two will board the boat to Singapore. To be fair, my hoarding of hand me down kids clothes makes him just as nuts as his computer habit makes me. I guess we're even and blissfully happy together, forever in our precious, precious junk.

Oh Come On!!

Just one of the many tasks on for today: Scout Uniform for Ben

Estimated time to completion: 20 minutes

Actual time: probably an hour and a half

 

Check list of what to buy for Virginia.

Add those items to "shopping cart" on Boy Scout of America website.

Google scouting in Singapore.

Found troop for cub scouts and boy scouts.

Several notes like this, "Buy all this stuff while you are in the United States. Shipping is expensive."

Boy Scout website confirms.  $25 to ship anything, even a little number patch.

Compile list of things the Singapore troops require (Virginia seems a lot more relaxed than Singapore as far as uniform requirements for socks and hats and stuff).

Use my sleuthing skills to determine what troop and council they are in Singapore.

Troop - easy.

Council - hard.  "District Services Council - Dallas, TX" - Say what?

Search BSA website for ANY clues on what patch to buy for the "Direct Services Council"

Nothing.

Click links for a while. Read all the info on the cub website AND boy scout website about how to sign up and what you will need for any little clues.

Nothing.

Nada.

Zip.

Wait. GREAT IDEA!!  Check the troop pictures and cross my fingers I can see the patches on their shoulders.

Find the photo album of the troop activities.

Click a picture that looks good in the thumbnail view.

Good. Good.  This one could work!

Zoom in.

WHAT THE HECK??  What is the first kid I see wearing?  National Capitol Area Council - DC MD VA.

That's where I live now!

 

I did ultimately get to see the patch and it looks kinda cool in bright red.  It does actually say, "Direct Services Council - Singapore" and has what I think is a super cool asian looking dragon on it.

 

Bad news is, after all that work I can't seem to be able to order it online. I suppose they don't get enough orders for it to sell online.  Guess we will go with what I have and wear the wrong patch until the group order the following August.  In the end, I totally realize, he won't care anyway.  It's just the anal parental unit that will make herself nuts over details like this.

No More Limping!!!

Big things are happening around here. Today I woke up and am no longer limping!!! Okay, after I put on a good solid athletic shoe to support my left foot I wasn't limping anyway. Last Tuesday I woke up and could barely walk. My left foot was in really bad shape for no apparent reason at all (nothing other than post-camp body shut down that is). Seemed to me that that same foot thing had happened before over the last seven or eight years, maybe it had happened twice before like that. Really painful and really random. Both the other two times I thought it was gone by dinner. At least as far as I could recall so I decided to wait it out. I will do almost anything to avoid the doctor. Not that I fear him. I just think most the time the diagnosis is something like, "Yep. You look sick. Don't know what's wrong. You should sleep and drink fluids and take it easy. Pay your $20 co-pay at the front desk and good luck with that weird, unidentifiable medical problem you have." And on top of the amazingly great diagnosis I get on all my visits, I have to arrange a babysitter and go wait in the office while I'd rather be at home. So I don't go unless something BIG is wrong with me. Wednesday morning came and the pain was so bad I would almost cry with every step and the ball of my foot was swollen so the skin was tight on the bottom. It was beyond belief the pain I was in. I watched Anthony and Becca early in the morning and ended up taking a lawn chair to the parking lot and watching all five kids ride bikes and play outside just so I didn't have to move anywhere. By 9:30 am I caved and called the doctor for an appointment. I made mac 'n' cheese for the kids to scarf down as Lucinda arrived and we swapped kid duty. She took all five to her place so I could go get it checked out. Could be two things causing the pain. One - a fractured foot from jumping off the tail gate of the truck Monday night, except that it never hurt when I jumped. Two - Mortons Neuroma, a severely inflamed nerve between the third and fourth metatarsel. Based on my vague memories of similar things in the past, I guess the neuroma. I almost didn't go get the xray because it seemed to make sense to me the neuroma option. I did decide not to be stupid though and I did end up getting my foot xrayed at the clinic down the road and going home to wait for the radiologist report. Jake had just fallen asleep at Lucinda's house when I got back, so she made me camp out on the couch with my foot up on pillows for about two hours while he slept. Even just sitting the pain got worse and worse every second. I called the doctor office right before they closed at 4pm to see if they got the report from the radiologist, only to be told, "We're closing in three minutes." "Yes. I know that. This is why I called at 3:57 instead of 4:03. Can you please check if they called it in?" "Well, they don't call those in. They fax it." "Fine. Can you check your fax machine please?" "Well, that's in the back of the office and the office manager is shutting down her computer to leave." Etc. She totally refused to go look for me so I could get an answer. What a bunch of total idiots at the office. No problem. I may have a fractured foot. No biggie. We'll just chill on it until you toddle into the office in the morning. IDIOT!! Just because you're too lazy to get out of your stupid chair. I never called back in the morning and will not go back to that office. In fact, I should write a complaint letter and ask for my records to be transfered somewhere else. Thursday morning I woke up and the pain was substantially reduced, meaning I could limp and wince and hop on one foot through the pain with only small tears, not big ones. Still pissed off, I didn't call the doctor. It's probably a Morton's Neuroma anyway, right? I'm sticking to that theory anyway. So I've been limping and hobbling for 6 days now. Saturday night at the park I had a few times when I had a regular gait back for a few minutes and was really encouraged. Sunday was no good because running shoes just don't look good with a dress, so I had no support and it showed. Here were are on day 7 of the foot trouble and with a good shoe, I'm walking what I would call normally. Still a little bit of pain like it's got a really, really bad bruise inside but so much better than the last 6 days. I'll take it!!

My Future

I'm not sure how I'm going to adjust to the change in TV when we move.  I got this mesage on my screen yesterday and am worried that it is just the beginning of my future where we spend three years without the TV shows I am used to watching.  Netflix instant viewing won't work internationally.  Even logging directly onto the network websites to watch online is blocked.  Ugh.

All done!

My angel mother took care of all my peaches from the orchard while I was
away at camp. Thank you!!

every Doc first words when

every Doc first words when they see me regarding my mouth stuff - "Wow! You really took care of this thing!" good check today :)

Progress

I've had in my mind for months and months a smattering of things I need to get done to be ready to move.  That includes a long list of things not worth taking overseas.  Just seems too overwhelming to get them posted on Craigslist to sell them.  Last night I was laying in bed thinking about doing it yet again.  I started counting the months.  Four months.  That's it.  Once we get our orders, there will be lots more important things to take care of than selling stuff.  It will end up being donated to places that may or may not be able to sell it or sent to a landfill.

 

This morning I posted the first two items to get rid of and it feels good.  Already have an appointment for someone to come look at the entertainment center at 4pm.  Yipee!!  Let the dejunking begin.

 

PS - I also sorted out ALL of the three mounded buckets of clothes the kids have outgrown in the last year this week.  They are bagged and labeled.  Now...what to do with them...take or leave I'm just not sure.

Leave It to a Man with a Chain Saw

After Maddie finished her stories tonight and was shuffled off to brush her teeth, Ben had a question.  Thankfully he addressed it directly to dad.  "Dad, how do they get babies out of a baby if you stay at home?"  (My friend is hoping for a home birth today).  Brian, not knowing what to say, tried and tried to dodge.  Finally he came up with telling Ben, "I don't know.  I never had a baby at my house.  All mine came at the hospital."

 

Nice try. Ben follow up with, "Then how do they get babies out of the mom at the hospital?"  Brian still waffling around said the doctor cut him out of my stomach.  That prompted Ben to more questions and offering options for Brian to choose.  "Do they use a chain saw to cut the baby out?  Or a jack hammer?"  He told him about the little knives for surgery.

 

Ben then says, "I know that I have a puzzle in my brain that tells how I am."  Confused, we asked more questions to figure out what he's talking about.  He tells us the puzzle said he would have a p (if I write the word my blog will get blocked). Okay, he must be talking about DNA making boys and girls different.  Using that lead in, we say just like he has a body part, girls have a hole for babies.  And that's enough info for tonight.  All I know is I'm glad no one used a chainsaw to get my babies out.

 

I asked Brian if I could post this or not.  He read it first and said if this is what I'm writing, he wants me to add that I sat at the table the entire time with a smirk on my face offering not even one teeny tiny piece of aid to my poor husband.  It's true.  I have already had this talk at least twice and figured it was Dad's turn to be on the hot seat.  He did well.

Stories By Maddie

Brian can often be found entertaining our kids over dinner.  It usually starts with, "Can I tell you a story?"  That question is always met with an extatic YES from the kids.  Then he starts in about a hypothetical family with three kids, a big brother, a sister and a little brother or something like that but never mentioning names.  They of course catch on every time and squeel with delight that the story must obviously be about them.  Then he relays a story from our family history.  They hang on his every word and Maddie's smile is ear to ear and irresistable.  Tonight Maddie wanted to return the favor and shared a story with us.  Here it is, transcribed as she spoke.

 

"Once there was a big family. And they had a daughter called Angie.  One day when it was Octember they had a new baby called Brian.  Then one Sunday after they went to church they came home and were surprised to find a babysitter to babysit the new baby. And that babysitter was called Ben.  And then there was a new baby named Maddie.  I mean Pineapple Penelope Tree. Then the grandparents called their friends who met them at church and when they got home the friends parents were already at the house.  So the parents forgot to take the kids home so the grandparents and I took them home."

 

Erin also told me today that Maddie had relayed to her that she was getting a baby sister some day soon and that she has 100 grandmas.  She also plans to pray to Heavenly Father to see if she could live with him some day, then she can see her 100 grandmas. 

 

I watched Heather's cute girl Hazel today while she attempted to have another baby.  When I explained why Hazel was here to play, she leaned down to Hazel, who is 10 days younger than Jacob, patted her stomach and told her congratulations on getting a baby sister today and that Maddie was getting her baby sister in a while and she was SO excited.

 

Bad day at the state inspection place.