May 11th, 2008 by Not Martha
It’s Sunday again, and I’ve been keeping up with SPS lately. No smiles this week. The hives are returning. What a fabulous Mother’s Day gift for me. I’ve got hives on my eyes!! I made a run to the drug store and bought a big ole box of Benedryl and I”m trying that before I resort to going to the doctor to get shot full of super strength Benedryl and Prednisone again.
I really hate being on the steroids all the time, it made me hungry and thirsty constantly, and I think I gained a good ten pounds in that two week period. But, at least I wasn’t itchy!! And not being itchy was so…. wonderfully amazing! I’m only slightly itchy compared to my last trip to the doctor, but now that I remember what it’s like to be hive free this little bit is just making me miserable today.
Check out all the Self Portrait Sunday posters over at Midlife Musings.
And it’s Mother’s Day. The boys got up all early and made breakfast and brought it to me. My kids definitely know me, they brought me favorite thing, peanut butter toast and a banana. Such sweet little boys I have. Then they checked on me every ten seconds to see if I had eaten it yet. I got the usual construction paper cards with wonderful letters from them inside, and Ethan painted a butterfly keychain for me at school. So, other than being itchy and blurry eyed, it’s been a good day with my little guys.
Happy Mother’s day to all the Mommies out there!
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May 10th, 2008 by Not Martha
You may remember the very popular post here, To Snip or Not to Snip. Well, it’s been decided. Snip. Brian is having a vasectomy. He goes to see the urologist this week.
Now, technically that just means that the having of babies by me is done. I do not wish to be pregnant ever again! I know that sounds awful, and some women love being pregnant. Most people assume that because I have four kids I’m one of those women. I assure that I am not. All four of our pregnancies were high risk. Three out of four had many problems, and we nearly lost two out of four. It was an emotional roller coaster each time, and when I had complications in the 8th month carrying Ethan (our youngest) I proclaimed that I would never, ever again be pregnant.
We have four amazing, beautiful, wonderful little boys and for that I am thankful. Some quack doctor once told me after a miscarriage that I’d never have children. I think I’ve sufficiently proven him wrong at this point.
This decision does not mean that we don’t want to grow our family anymore. We would love to have more children… just not in the traditional way. There are so many children out there that need homes and families to care for them. They’re just waiting for someone to show some interest in their existence. Well, we care, and we’re interested. If we are able in a position to adopt we will jump at the chance. In our current situation I don’t see an adoption agency granting our wish for another child. Our home is not big enough, nor are our salaries. Let me clarify that — there are no income restrictions in the state of Virginia for adoption, but it wouldn’t be right to bring a child in on our already shoestring budget the way the economy looks right this moment. “Adequate space” is required however, and we have a three bedroom home with six people living in it … I think we’re limited on space by most organization’s standards.
This all makes me sad because I know there are many children out there that are waiting to be adopted and will spend their entire lives in foster care because everyone always wants a “new baby” and they overlook the many great children that are over the age of 1 and need a home. Sad. My heart cries for these children. Hopefully in a year or two things will be not so crazy and we will be able to pursue an adoption plan.
Technorati Tags: adoption, vasectomy, children, parenting
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May 9th, 2008 by Not Martha
You might remember that I mentioned the Renuzit Makeover Your Home contest not very long ago. Well, the submissions are in and the semi-finalist gallery is up on the Renuzit Triscents website with the top ten finalists! These families now need your help to choose the winner of the big makeover.
I voted for The Hiatt Family. I think what stood out most for me was that they had some water damage and issues with mold in their basement. Mold is nothing to mess around with and it can make you sick. I’d love to see this family get this taken care of so they can breathe healthier air, and not have a stinky basement anymore! This was their story:
My husband, SSG Joseph Hiatt, returned home in January 2006 from Iraq. During that time, I stayed home with our son, Andy. Right before that, I stopped teaching and I’m so grateful because that year was extremely difficult. On to brighter things, the year he returned Cecilia was born. Renuzit saved our poor, pitiful noses and still is in many ways. Now down to business, we have been trying to improve our home with windows and upkeep, but the bottom fell out this year. Our basement started leaking badly. The basement was partly refinished before, but now it has to be gutted. We have B-dry systems scheduled to come in July to fix the leak. We need the basement area because our family room, 2nd bath room, and our laundry room are there. In the last few months, our upstairs living room started leaking, too. We learned from a roofing expert that our chimney has to be rebricked and new flashing put around it from the roofline up. I have earthworms in my laundry /bathroom. Mold growing everywhere. Renuzit air freshener has been our odor lifesaver. This home makeover would help so much in putting our home back to what it was before so maybe the lovely smell from Renuzit will match the lovely sight of a beautiful living space. Thanks, The Hiatt Family
You can visit the semi-finalist gallery and vote once per day now through June 7! It only takes a few seconds of your time and every vote counts and helps ones of these 10 families get closer to a fantastic makeover for their home. They all have great stories and good reasons for wanting this makeover, take a moment and help them out. The winner with the most votes at the end of the voting period will receive a $20,000 home makeover with Tayna Memme.
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May 9th, 2008 by Not Martha
It’s been awhile since I posted a recipe on here! So much for the learning to cook portion of the blog, right? LOL I found this fun recipe in my recipe stash tonight and I think I might have to give it a try with the kids over the weekend. I think they’ll have fun making it!
Fresh Fruit Salsa
Two apples (preferably Fuji or Granny Smith)
Three kiwis
Eight strawberries
Two peaches
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons of lime juice
1) Clean all of the fruit.
2) Peel the kiwi and peaches, followed by chopping all of the fruit into bite-sized pieces.
3) Place the fruit in a bowl and toss with lime juice.
4) Sprinkle with sugar and toss again.
5) Chill for 10 minutes and serve with cinnamon tortilla chips available at the grocery store.
If you wish to make cinnamon tortilla chips on your own, consider the following recipe, or you can pick up a bag at the bakery:
Cinnamon Tortilla Chips
2 tablespoons of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
8 (8-inch) flour tortillas
6 tablespoons of butter (melted)
1) In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
2) Brush melted butter on the tops of the tortillas.
3) Cut each tortilla into eight wedges.
4) Arrange the tortillas in a single layer on a baking sheet.
5) Lightly sprinkle the cinnamon mixture on top of the tortillas.
6) Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 4 to 6 minutes. Store in an airtight container for later use.
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May 9th, 2008 by Not Martha
With all the things that have been going on lately I guess I am stressed out. Or so people keep telling me! I didn’t think I was, but people keep telling me I need to take a break, I need to relax, I need to go do something that isn’t work. I can take a hint. I’m going to take Friday morning and just kind of relax. Turn the computer off, read a book or maybe watch a movie all my by myself in the quiet house! But then I’m going back to work -lol-
We are supposed to get the van back on Monday. And tomorrow morning I should even have my IRS stimulus check. Well, I think so. I’m not sure if we’re going to get direct deposit or a paper check…. or if we’re even going to get one at all. I did the “where’s my stimulus check” on the IRS website and it said “We are sorry. Specific information about your Stimulus payment is not available.” Then my friend Tiffany said that if you used Turbo Tax or H&R Block or something like that to file your taxes and you used the option that let them take the fees out of your tax refund amount then you’re going get a PAPER stimulus check. Paper check?! Actually go to the bank? Who does that anymore? Turbo tax also has some information about the paper check versus direct deposit on their website.
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