ugh

So we just spent an incredible weekend vacation in beautiful Brown County, Indiana. We left on Friday morning and didn't come back until Sunday evening, and we set off fireworks at my mother in law's house, even though we'd watched them on Saturday night in Brown county. Then we came home around 10 p.m., and I noticed our kitten was lethargic. She wouldn't eat, she wouldn't drink, and she looked like she'd lost weight.

On Monday morning, my husband woke me up to ask me where my cell phone was (his was dead), because he was going to the ER. He'd suffered through a miserable night with itching and swelling, and he didn't know why. He had been there for about 5 hours before they decided to admit him to find out what was wrong. Turns out he had an allergic reaction to MANGOES, of all things. He'd never eaten one before in his life, and on Thursday he had two (he was completely in love with them), and begged me to buy more. Apparently the same thing that is in poison ivy and poison oak is also present in the skin of mangoes, and can cause the same reaction on skin. so they gave him big doses of benadryl and steroids, and he spent the night at the hospital.

While he was sitting in the ER, my mother in law drove me and the four girls to the animal hospital with the kitten. Turns out she was severely dehydrated, and they didn't know why - all they knew was that if I had waited to take her in, she would probably have been dead by today. :( They kept her overnight and gave her IV fluids, and today she looked good enough to come home, but she is still acting funny. I'm hoping it's just the shock of leaving and coming back.

At any rate, we've had an eventful 24 hours. I baked a ton of sugar cookies today for my niece's birthday party and decorated them all by hand - still need to make more, but I am proud of the ones I got done.





But our weekend was good before all of this stuff happened. We kicked it off with a trip to our local Krispy Kreme (my new all-time favorite doughnut is the New York cheesecake doughnut), then drove to Nashville, Indiana. We had lunch, did some light shopping, and then went back to our cabin. My sister in law and I went to the grocery and got some supplies, and then we all went swimming at the indoor water park (it was in the main lodge, and since we rented a cabin, we got admission with it). Saturday morning I was the first one up and I made breakfast for everyone - pancakes, sausage, eggs, bacon, toasted bagels, coffee, and juice. Seriously, we went through two pounds of bacon in about 10 minutes! We went out and did some more shopping, had lunch at my favorite restaurant in Nashville, did some more shopping, went back to the cabin and changed, went back to the water park, watched an awesome fireworks display, went back to the cabin and ate pizza, and basically had a criminally good time laughing ourselves stupid. Sunday morning I was the first one up again (I know, so odd, lol). I made a few fried eggs, but nothing huge like the previous day, and we were off horseback riding! It was my first time ever on a horse, and I was sooooooooo nervous. It was a 2.2 mile ride, with uphill and downhill trails. My middle baby, who is horse crazy, rode her first horse and is even more in love with the animals than she was before we went out there. She wanted to go back and ride the horse again as soon as she got off of it! I was so nervous... and I had fun, but was so happy to have my feet down on solid ground again! I have enormous bruises on my inner thighs and my thumb is blistered where I gripped the saddle so hard. We did some more shopping after that, then drove home and set off fireworks at my in-laws' house. It was an amazing weekend! I was sad to see it end!

The horse I rode - his name is Patch.

truth be told, I've tried my best

So I have begun the somewhat daunting task of getting ready for my stepdaughter's arrival in 9 days by removing ALL of her clothes from the closet & dresser and washing them afresh. I wash them every year after she leaves, but they sit there for a whole year, and it's nice to come home to freshly washed clothes that smell good and clean and not like the musty old house, I think. Plus it gives me a chance to throw anything that looks too small into a storage container for the next kid who can wear it. it's nice having all girls, since that means anything I get will get plenty of wear.

Speaking of the stepdaughter, we talked today and she has some things going on in her life that need major prayer. I know prayer can move mountains, so anyone who prays, please keep her in mind the next time you talk to the Father.

I also decided that for her birthday party I'm not going to do 15 different mocktails as planned, I think instead I'm going to have a self-serve Italian soda bar. :) It sounds so much better, and no one will have to stand there and miss out on the party in order to serve drinks, which will be fun for all. Plus people can experiment and try what they want, when they want it. I can't believe it's almost time... I am mailing out the invitations tomorrow.

My garden is out of control! Apparently when I started planting, I didn't keep in mind that most of my plants are vine plants, which means they are creepers... and despite my putting a wire contraption for my cucumbers to climb up, they have wound themselves around the fence we share with a not-so-pleasant neighbor, so I'm hoping she doesn't do anything to them until after we've harvested them. The pumpkin plants' leaves look like elephant ears, they are HUGE!!!

It is supposed to reach temperatures of 100 by Tuesday here, and I hate it. I wish we could have another summer like last year's - mild enough to go swimming if you want, but not so hot that you started to sweat just by stepping out the door. Ugh. I hate the heat.

Oh, yeah... did I mention this?

Utterly Frustrated

I am at my wits' end, literally. I have been in my daughter's room cleaning for five hours today and still am only halfway done. there are so many more things that need to be done in my house and I am completely frustrated. I broke down and cried like a baby tonight while the kids were outside and couldn't see me and wouldn't know. I just feel like I have no one to talk to about anything. I feel so lonely and crappy right now. I know it will pass eventually because whenever I feel like this it always does, but for right now that's how I feel.

I need a vacation from my life, I guess. Normally I think that my life is pretty great, but this is one of those days when things smack me around a little.

Doctor Doctor, gimme the news...

So I took all three kids to the dentist today, and none of them had any cavities this time, which is GREAT! Though Fifi is going to be just like me, the dentist just wanted to LOOK at her teeth and she flipped out!

Then I took Bud to her pediatrician appointment. They froze a plantar's wart off of the bottom of one of her feet. She switched her from Claritin to Zyrtec, told me to give her melatonin an hour before bedtime to help her sleep, since she has such trouble with sleeping. She also said she has keratosis pilaris on her face, which is a kind of eczema (according to the pediatrician). Bud now has to wash her face twice a day with special soap and moisturize after each time with special lotion. When she uses sunscreen this summer, it'll have to be a special, specific kind, too. There are other, more personal problems, but the gist of it is that the pediatrician is afraid that she's developing too quickly, and has ordered an x-ray of her wrist to look at her growth plates.

Sigh.

Got the ball rolling

I finally have the ball rolling on this whole school thing, though I'm not sure I like it. My husband heard from his sister (who works in our county's school system) that the school she works at has a gifted and talented program for advanced kids. Well, when my middle baby was in first grade during the 08-09 school year, her testing showed she was off the charts for a first grader - she read at a fifth grade level (actually the teacher said she probably read even higher than that, she just didn't have time to keep testing her). The class shared a "reading box" - a box of books that they were supposed to read when they had completed work and had free time. My child had her own box, since the other box of books was too easy for her. The teacher said she was worried about my daughter getting bored, since she completed all her work (correctly) way before the other kids got done. She's been homeschooled this last year, and her appetite for learning has just been voracious. I had the girls reading The Secret Garden, which is 5th grade level reading. We did tests and everything for that, and she was still passing her older sister in the work we did. she has done leaps and bounds more in math, as well, and I am still teaching them both French & Spanish. My husband thinks the G & T program would be good for her... I am undecided and want to keep them home, but at the same time I don't want to deny her such a wonderful opportunity... so I have been calling the admin building for a week. Finally got in touch with the woman in charge of the program today, and so a week from today at 9 a.m., she will take the Naglieri test to see if she gets into the program. She wants to go, but at the same time she says she doesn't want to leave me. For every reason she finds to go, she finds one to stay home. I told her not to worry about it until we find out whether or not she makes it in. She wailed, "I'm gonna fail!" I assured her you can't "pass" or "fail" this kind of test.

My oldest daughter keeps asking me to take her shopping for a training bra. She is 9, will be 10 in a few months. I don't know why she's in such a hurry to develop and grow up - I suspect that since her almost-15-year-old sister will be here in 27 days, she wants to be like her and wear a bra. She went to the bookshelf this morning and got the "Care & Keeping of You" American Girl book that I bought when she started needing deodorant. She's reading the section on developing chests... I don't want to discourage her from learning about it, but I know it's making her Daddy VERY uncomfortable! She keeps wanting to ask me stuff, but he's in the room so she says she'll ask me later.

So. On to subjects that I know how I feel about, lol. Gardening, yay! ;) I now have three green something-or-others in the lettuce pot, 6 lavender shoots, and the two thyme shoots are still the only ones in the pot. One of Lulu's Sweet William flowers began to sprout this morning, so of course she's out of her mind with excitement. She also has 13 greenish things in her pot of Chinese Lantern flowers. :) I need to go out today and get some things in the ground, too.

I've been doing laundry like crazy the last few days. I discovered that I actually find it soothing to sit and fold baskets of laundry... except for fitted sheets, which make me want to pull my hair out. I (literally) have done 15 loads of laundry in the past four days. Every time someone dirties something, I grab more stuff to be washed and take it downstairs to the machine. I am starting to think I may be addicted to doing laundry, as I can no longer stand seeing dirty clothes ANYWHERE. Or maybe I'm addicted to the smell of the clean laundry - I guess that makes more sense, lol. I just know I feel calmed when I sit and fold the clean clothes. Speaking of which, I need to go get some out of the dryer, and take down this basket of dirty stuff that just popped out of nowhere this morning... heehee....