Can you believe that it is almost October?

Tomorrow will be the first of October! I am in shock. My BIL and Future SIL have been planning a wedding for almost a year now and the day is almost here. It seemed like such a long time away last Thanksgiving when they got engaged and now it is just 4 days away. Less really when you count the rehearsal. My entire family minus one will be in the wedding so this week is a busy one for us. Tuxedoes (is that how you pluralize that word?) to pick up, dresses to get pressed, a suit to get dry cleaned, last minute stuff to get, like pantyhose for me and my girl.....Wow! and only really three days to do it....Ok, I am better now....
Tomorrow is my favorite neice in the whole wide world's 9th birthday AND my favorite sister's too. I will not give her age but let's just say, its a bit more....she is my baby sister so she is younger than me. (Now I say that they are my favorite neice and sister, but they are my only neice and sister so I am not stepping on any toes) I am taking my neice out to lunch for her birthday at a local Tea Room. She is a girly girl and its her kind of thing and then I am taking her to Barne's and Noble to pick out a book or something...Its a date and I am looking forward to it. My not so girly girl may not want to come with us but even so, it will be fun!
After Saturday is over and done, we will be a week away from our big trip to Florida!!! I AM SO EXCITED!! We are going to Magic Kingdom (THE Happiest place in the WORLD) on Sunday and then I am off on my cruise on Monday. DID I SAY, I CAN'T WAIT!!! What really stinks is that I have a cold right now that I am desperate to KICK before next Saturday. Well, that is all the news I have today. Have a great one!!

I got me a sunburn....

My SIL and I had a garage sale this weekend and it was so hot and sunny that got a sunburn on my arms and face. We have worked hard for the last weekends with this and after Saturday, we hauled all the leftover stuff to the thrift store. It was a lot of work but it was beneficial to both families in more than one way. We both cleared out a ton of toys and stuff AND made some money.
Would I do it again? Not anytime soon! But yes, I would do it again. I also got some really nice metal, locking storage cabinets to put in my classroom from a local private school that has closed.
I have two bookcases in there now but they are not very deep and the kids mess with the stuff on the shelves and junk it up. Now I have three deep, bigger cabinets to organize stuff in and I can close the doors and lock them. I am planning on using one for an overflow pantry. I love anything that gets my house/garage more organized and neat.

Can I just say that I'm bummed.....

My girls, my peeps, my friends are heading out of town in a few days to the Outer Banks of NC for a cropping weekend and recharging of the mommy batteries and ....WAHHHH!!!! I can't go. I have so much craziness going on with kids, upcoming nuptials, upcoming vacation, a bridal shower, a garage sale and upcoming business trip for the hubby going on that I just did not feel like I could go this weekend, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it. Now, don't get me wrong, I am excited about all the other stuff that is going on too but my semi annual crop with the girls is a highlight of the fall and I am going to miss it. It did make me check to find out how many days until my cruise and its only 19 days away!!!! YEAH!!! It will not be the same without Jewel Dawg and Flava K BUT it will be fun to spend time with the other peeps that I NEVER seem to get to see anymore. Now THAT is not their fault, it is completely mine.
The kiddos are excited about the trip too since they are going with daddy to see THE mouse. Everyone keeps asking, "Isn't that too much for daddy?" He says no way, its probably easier because he won't be dealing with bored kids on top of not having me around too.
Anyway, that's what is on my mind today!

All done.....

Yesterday was the last day of allergy testing and I was informed that they save the worst for last.
I got less injections but they were more painful because with the food testing they have to give you a bigger dose of the allergen.
Just so you know, I was not allergic to any foods but one. Which is a relief since I think I have probably consumed massive quantities of each of these foods over the last 39 years. I have also eaten quite a bit of the food that I am actually allergic to but have never noticed a reaction. I am apparently allergic to RICE. Isn't that a weird one?. I am not a huge fan of rice unless it is crispy and mixed up with melted marshmallows, LOL, so it should not be a problem to reduce my intake of said food.
Today is the hearing test and visit with the doctor. I have already decided that regardless of the shear number of things that I am allergic to, I will NOT be getting allergy shots. My BIL has had them and you go once or twice a week for a couple of years and if you stop, you have to start over from the beginning. The thing is that you have to pay your specialist co pay EACH visit. So I would be looking at $20 or $40 dollars per WEEK for up to five years. NOPE!!! Not going to do it. If I pay $20 to $40 a week its going to be on a pedicure or spa treatment,lol.

update....

Ok, for those of you who are sick of hearing about it, I will not go into the details but lets just say
17 injections...6 ROWS! Do the math...that's 102 injections and unlike some people, I didn't even have a pretty butterfly to show for it.......
Today is the last day of allergy testing and then tomorrow I get the hearing test that I originally went there for to begin with.
After the appointment, I got groceries at Wallyworld. BIG MISTAKE! I took leave of my senses. Two cardinal rules of shopping at Walmart: 1. Never go on the 1st 2. NEVER GO ON THE 15th. Yesterday was the 15th and that is military payday and we are a big military area....IT WAS PACKED and the shelves were empty. I would seriously boycott Walmart, IF I could afford to but with a family of five, it would cost us too much. I really dislike going there.

WOW! I just realized how negative all of this post sounds! Sorry. Let me change speeds here and give some great news that I got yesterday! I got an email from my travel agent that booked our cruise and she informed us that we were given a cabin upgrade AND a rate reduction of $35.
We are now being moved from a 2nd deck interior room to a deck 6, exterior cabin. This is really cool. These cabins were on average about $60 to $80 more per person originally. What a nice surprise!

Time for Day 2 of allergy testing......

Anyone have a pressing emergency to call me out of town? My kids are disgustingly healthy at this point and time so I can't play the sick kid card.....The van is fairly new so I can't play the broken down vehicle card......Oh well, guess I'm going to have to suck it up, build a bridge and head on over to the torture chamber they call a doctor's office.

My SIL and I made it out for some shopping therapy on Saturday to Kohls with only one child and it was the one that actually LOVES to clothes shop, my almost 9 year old niece. I got a cute pair of chocolate brown bermuda shorts and a green and brown shirt that I really like. I am really digging these new color combos. Well, not really new but still...I love the brown/pink and brown/baby blue from last year and now the brown/green has really caught my eye. I could do a lot of damage to our checking account balance at Kohls if I stayed there long. Fortunately, for my husband that is, we were shopping off the clearance rack and the shorts were 80% off so I got them for $7 and the shirt was $12. Since it was 90 plus degrees here yesterday, I wore them to church right away. Now I know we are suppose to retire our summer stuff after labor day but it was hot and they are fall colors so I figure it was a good compromise.

We also went to Target' (pronounced Tar Jay, for those of you who did not realize it was a French fashion boutique). This is the best time to get the kiddos some summer clothes for next year. We laughed a lot and took much longer than our husbands expected. My BIL had surgery last Monday on his throat and has been in a lot of pain but he came over with his family anyway since he was hoping that he was over the hump and on the way to recovery. He was not! The poor guy didn't even have the energy to pick on me like he normally does. I am expecting some serious slams later this week though when he is back to normal. So anyway, I made homemade chicken noodle soup just for him and we let the kids play until late. Overall, we had a really nice weekend except for the fact that it was so hot and not an open pool to be found (outside that is, since we could have gone to the Y). My kids just don't understand that the pools closed on Labor day since summer was over and yet it was so hot....Come to think of it, I don't understand either.....Where are our nice fall temps?

What is it like to be a human pin cushion, you ask?

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I had no idea what I was in for!
I had my first day of allergy testing yesterday. I am not afraid of needles. I don't mind the occasional shot or blood test.....so I thought...NO PROBLEM....Right.....
My baby girl had allergy testing last year and they took this block with like 50 little needle things and scratch it on her back and test them all at once. I thought, Ok, that looked painful but manageable....
Is that what they did to me? NO!!!!
On day one, I went in and saw that she had 20 full sized hypodermic needles in different allergens. She says that she will be injecting them in my arm in a row and making a raised bubble of sorts like a TB test and then looking at them. I thought, OK. I can do this. About 1/2 through, I was thinking, IS IT OVER YET! Then she finishes and sets the timer. I thought. WHEW! Made it.
The timer goes off and she looks at them and I said, Ok, all done? She says, No that was just the FIRST set.....! We went through this process 3 MORE TIMES!!!! I had 80 plus needle holes in my left arm! OoooooooooUCH!!!!! It took all I had to sit there for the last set. I just wanted to run away. I asked her, since I have the next set on Monday morning, will they use the same arm again? She says it depends on how well it heals over the weekend. I ask her if each visit will be this many shots......Praying for a big NEGATORY on that one......and she says that they will be AT LEAST this many but it depends on my reaction to things. If they don't get a diffinite positive result, they redo it.......
I am now shaking in my boots!!!!!
Oh, and by the way, I am officially allergic to the planet Earth and need to relocate.........JUST SO YOU KNOW!!!!

Is Fall weather ever coming??

I love fall weather. My allergies are never as bad and it is nice and cool without being cold.....but so far, it has been so hot and muggy here. When are the fall temperatures going to get here? I have the kids closet and dressers all cleaned out and ready with fall clothing, I have my pumpkin spice tart in the tart warmer so the house smells like fall, I have the fall wreath on the door.....when is the weather going to get the hint!!!!
Ok, enough of that! Sorry for the rant!
This has been a busy week so far. We are back into the swing of school and both kids are swimming (my baby boy had his first swim lessons last Tuesday!) so that takes up two nights a week and my brother had a doctor appt. yesterday plus I had to get groceries. On Friday, I start the first of 4 straight days (work days that is) of allergy testing, so by next Weds I will be tired AND a human pin cushion. We are suppose to start back to church on Weds nights tonight and on Saturday, its my oldest nephew's very first soccer game and the kids and I would like to be there....
Busy, busy, busy....so if I go MIA for a few days or so, DON'T WORRY, I will be back!!!

Promotion Sunday at Church.....

You can always tell when it's promotion Sunday at our church. You see we go to a fairly large church, therefore each age group or grade has a class (or actually 2 but you get the point). Each September on the Sunday after labor day, we have promotion Sunday. The kids move to their new class. Fortunately they have been separated by their birthday since birth so they always move with the same kids more or less. The reason you can tell that it is promotion week is that the moment you walk into the door on the kids wing of the church, you see the crowd of parents and kids that are unsure what to do. You see, these are the parents that can't follow simple instructions. You see, the new room numbers are marked clearly on the adhesive tag that you get when you check the child in on the computer. Then you finally make in onto the hallway where the rooms are and you have another back up of parents that can not read the room numbers clearly marked above each door so they must ask everyone "Do you know where room number ---- is?".
Did I mention that the room numbers are over the doors and in numerical order? I mean, I could understand if the room numbers were just scattered willy-nilly but come on folks! Then you have those who have never entered a office building or anything in their lives and do not realize that if the number starts with a 2, it means the room is on the 2nd floor.... Ok, then lets cut the parents some slack and realize that maybe they are not dumb, they are just stressed. Then we get to the actual room and we have the kids who are really sensing their parent's confusion and uncertainty and are having a melt down over the fact that their room has moved one or two doors down the hall and the fact that they have a new teacher and helper. Oh, and did I tell you that we are Southern Baptist Conservatists, so each parent has on average about a dozen kids (you know, we are trying to rival the Catholics in the baby making business). So we go through this process at each and every drop off point. Then when you finally get the kids calmed down and actually in their new class, you make your way to the Sanctuary of the church and realize that the service is now over and they are singing "Just as I am" which means you have missed the entire message of the day which was probably on patience which you probably desperately needed to hear. Then you make you way back to the class room behind all those not so sharp parents who DONT remember which class they dropped which kid off in.....Oh but that is not what happened to me because I was scheduled to work this Sunday so I have the distinct pleasure in dealing with many overprotective parents who feel the need to give you in depth instructions on how to care for their 9 month old for the next 45 mins to an hour. Then you have the first time mom who wants to come in for a few moments because her baby had never been away from her for even a moment in her entire life (Get real woman! You better take a break when you can get one, trust me!) and once the baby is in the room and perfectly happy to be playing and not crying one little bit, she feels the need to make sure she picks the happy baby up to kiss her and hug her and say bye-bye, mommy is LEAVING now, or and did I say I'M LEAVING YOU WITH STRANGERS FOR THE FIRST TIME AND I WON'T BE BACK FOR AN WHOLE HOUR! Oh and when the baby didn't cry and went back to playing, she felt the need to say good bye several more times on her way out the door.......God Bless her little heart....It WAS her first time.........Oh and then she shows up about 15 mins. later, just to "CHECK" on her and feels the need to get the baby's attention and wave?....Oh and when the child finally did start crying, she grabbed her up and said "It's okay darling, you did try, your okay now, mommy's got you..."
WAS I EVER THAT BAD? I know I had a hard time the first weekend I left my little angels but now I let my girl go on sleepovers (only to the cousins but it is a first step) and and I go away at least 2 weekends a year with the girls......

Good Morning!!!

One of the perks of home schooling is that if you do a little extra in the first 4 days of the week, you can take off on Friday for fun stuff. Today we are going to a back to school bash at a local park for our church's home school group. My SIL and her kids are joining us and then we are off to the amusement park for the afternoon. The kids are actually electrically charged with excitement.
It may be a bad weather weekend here due to Little Miss Tropical Storm Hannah so its good that we get in our weekend fun a day early.
I am so excited about my upcoming cruise with some of my peeps so I hope the hurricane season finishes up with all this activity in the next 3 weeks, 4 weeks tops. Otherwise, we may not be able to drag "The OCD" (one of my girls) out of the state. She is not a big fan of the motion of the ocean.
To be honest, I can get nauseated watching my kids spin around so neither am I, but my first cruise showed me that you really don't feel it on a cruise ship. I have a prescription for the patch so I am not worried.
Now, I just need to find a place for the dh and the kiddos to stay on their visit to the Sunshine State during the week I am cruising. Well, better get a shower!
Have a great weekend!

A LITTLE HELP PLEASE!!!!

I have been told by several people that they could not post comments on my blog and now one person has said that they can't even view the existing comments any longer. I thought it was strictly due to a conflict between their web browser and blogspot but was told today that the same person can still see and even post comments on other blogs so I have tried to tweak my settings to fix this. I am not sure if it worked so if you read my blog, please just post a comment today to say you stopped by and was able to comment and if you still can't post comment or even see them, please email me and let me know this did not work. I am no computer genius so I am doing my best to figure this out.

Anyone got a big S that I can put on a necklace....

You know, S for SUCKER. I know I have blogged about my neighbor who calls periodically and suckers me into having a playdate at my house for her daughter and mine. Everytime, I whine about how rude it is to invite her kid over to my house but NEVER invite my kid to come to her house, but then I still say sure bring her over. I need to borrow a backbone and just say no. It is just so hard when she says that her little girl has been begging to come play with mine. The truth is that little Miss Sarah has no interest in playing with my girl, she wants to come eat snacks and play with her toys. She is 4 and my girl is almost 6 1/2 and they are nothing alike. (other than both being bossy and use to being in charge). She comes and is starving because she just got home from school and pulls out all kinds of toys and terrorizes poor Brownie and just basically ignores both of my children. Then she goes in my fridge and asks for chocolate milk. I tell her I don't have chocolate milk and she tells me, you have chocolate syrup....I tell her that I will make her some but she will have to wait til her mom comes to get it because I need to make sure she isn't allergic to milk or chocolate. Her mom was suppose to be back to get her in 10 mins. so I did not think it was that long to ask her to wait. So after her 1 1/2 hour visit, we had to clean up the mess and my daughter said, I don't like her. Of course, I tell her that we are not going to like everyone but we have to be kind and polite to them because that is what Jesus would want us to do. What I want to say is, I don't like her or her mom and she never has to come over again but....we have to be kind and polite to everyone because that is what Jesus would want us to do........

Fed up with election stuff!!!

Ok, I know that I don't normally get too serious here on my own personal forum but today, I just want to say that I am officially fed up! My husband has watched so much CNN coverage in the last 7 months since we got our new LCD screen tv that the CNN symbol is burnt into the screen even when the kids are watching ...well, I'd like to go high brow and say "The History Channel" or "Discovery Kids" but lets be honest and say SpongeBob Squarepants. They are starting to wonder why Patrick got a new tshirt that says CNN across the front....
My DH and I actually could not fall asleep the other night after an immensely busy day at the amusement park because we were too busy talking about the newest VP scandal. The news reporters were in a feeding frenzy and could not decide which story was meatier, the scandal or the hurricane. Sad!!!
I can honestly say that I have never lost sleep over an election before in my life. I was blissfully ignorant in the past but now I have the CNN news ticker running through my mind even as I sleep. I can not honestly say that I feel any better about making an informed choice in the upcoming election, as a matter of fact, I feel like the more I know, the more uneasy I am about either choice. So I think I am going to go with this choice (picture below). At least with this person, you have no expectations and will not be disappointed.......(Just as a side note, Photo shop is a scary thing in the hands of a stay at home mom with a warped sense of humor.)