Coastal Reflections

Firday's Feast 9/15

12:21, 2006-Sep-15 .. Posted in Fun and Games .. 2 comments .. Link

APPETIZER:

What was the very last song you listened to?

Wanted Dead Or Alive (live concert version) by Bon Jovi

SOUP:

What is one company/store/corporation that you would recommend people stay AWAY from?

Just one???? Best Buy.

SALAD:

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the highest, how much do you enjoy having your picture made?

-15 - yes, MINUS 15! I hate having my picture made.

MAIN COURSE:

Besides a book mark, what is something that you‘ve used to keep your place in a book?

A grocery store receipt.

DESSERT:

Name a food that you like that most people don’t:

Calamari (fried squid).

Crying over spilled water

02:17, 2006-Sep-7 .. Posted in Baby Love .. 1 comments .. Link

Nope, not crying over spilled milk.......... crying over spilled water. LOL

Last night I thought I had my glass of water out of ds2's reach. He grabs for anything he can reach and it goes straight into his mouth! Unfortunately he knocked it over and water went all over the dining room table. I was trying to mop it up with anything I could and telling dh to get me some towels. Dh just stood there and looked at me. Gee, thanks. Ds1 ran and grabbed a whole 2 paper towels and threw them on the water. LOL At least he tried to help. Water got all over some papers I needed to file plus a stack of magazines ds1 was using to cut pictures from for his "Me Collage" assignment (as in the Judy Moody book series). Ds1 had part of his stamp collection on the table as well since we'd been working on it earlier in the day, but I was thankfully able to rescue it before the water could damage anything.

It continually amazes me at how different my kids are (ds1 never reached for and grabbed at anything and everything and didn't stick everything in his mouth) and yet I constantly remind myself that it shouldn't amaze me at all as we are all unique individuals. I'm going to have to keep a close eye on this little one. LOL

Love the new flooring

03:22, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

Since dh was home yesterday due to pretty much everything being closed in anticipation of Ernesto, he finally had enough of sitting and twiddling his thumbs and ended up installing some more of our new flooring in the living room. I love it! He's hoping to finish out the remainder of the room tonight and then we'll have to move more things around so he can work in the dining room and kitchen. We have a new rule as well - no shoes in the house anymore. We have so much sand and dirt on our property and I do not want the new floor all yucked up by it. I also don't want stuff brought in on shoes with ds2 crawling around on the floors (this kid sticks everything in his mouth - the total opposite of how ds1 was!). I keep reading that one of the best things you can do to keep your kids 'natural' is to not allow shoes to be worn in the house. I'm sure I could have worded that better, but you get my drift hopefully. I do wonder how to politely make this request of others who come to our home though. We don't have any friends so it's not like tons of people come into our home anyway, but on occasion dh's co-worker will help him with remodeling stuff or we have to have a repairman come, etc.

I think the dogs are hating all the new changes as well. They have been banned from the house. They shed like mad and who knows what they track in on their paws. They've been spoiled indoor babies all their lives so this is a big switch for them. They've been calling the back porch their new home for almost a couple of weeks now, with time each day to run about and play. The porch is huge so it's not like they are cramped or confined by any means.

We weathered Ernesto just fine. It was only a tropical depression as it came through here - what a huge blessing. We did get a lot of heavy rain and some winds from about 8pm last night until the wee hours this morning, but no flooding that I have seen (although I have not been to the back corner of our property that usually floods). The news said we got 4 inches of rain so that was a big help with our drier than normal year so far.

Allstate seeking to raise FL homeowners rates AGAIN this year

03:18, 2006-Aug-31 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 0 comments .. Link

This really infuriates me!

Allstate seeks double-digit price

By Jeff Ostrowski

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Tropical Storm Ernesto may have spared Florida, but it wasn't enough to deter Allstate from proposing double-digit price increases for 370,000 homeowners Wednesday.

Allstate Floridian Insurance, which has 270,000 customers and is the state's third-largest carrier, told regulators it wants to raise rates by 24.2 percent. A second Allstate company, Allstate Floridian Indemnity, asked for permission to raise rates by 33.6 percent statewide.

The rate requests, while not linked specifically to Ernesto, are related to Florida's new reality of more frequent and powerful hurricanes, Allstate spokesman Ryan Priest said. "They're directly related to the extensive hurricane risk Florida faces," Priest said.

He also pointed to the rising costs of reinsurance, the coverage carriers buy to protect themselves from catastrophic losses.

The price increases come even as Northbrook, Ill.-based Allstate reports strong profits. Last month, the carrier said it made $1.2 billion in the second quarter. Shares of the public company (NYSE: ALL) closed Wednesday at $57.64.

"This was a very strong quarter for Allstate driven by excellent performance of our automobile insurance line of business," Edward Liddy, chairman and chief executive, said in a statement at the time. "Overall, we are growing our business and generating strong profitability while at the same time we are managing down our exposure to catastrophes in the lines of business and areas of the country where the risk is the greatest."

Allstate's latest rate hike request comes seven months after it was granted a double-digit increase in the state. In January, state regulators let Allstate Floridian Insurance boost rates by 16.3 percent, while Allstate Floridian Indemnity raised rates by 24.4 percent. If the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation approves the latest proposed increases, they would take effect in December, Priest said.

Two state politicians from both sides of the aisle decried the proposed increase as one more hit for battered homeowners.

"This is just another example of consumers in Florida getting hurt," said state Sen. Ron Klein, D-Delray Beach.

State Rep. Randy Johnson, R-Celebration, a candidate for chief financial officer of Florida, criticized Allstate for seeking a second rate hike this year even after dropping thousands of policies.

"This is what Florida families have to look forward to: the constant, piecemeal picking away of their disposable income by insurance companies," he said.

Allstate stopped writing new policies in Florida in 2004, and it said in May that it would offload 120,000 homeowners policies to a start-up, Royal Palm Insurance. Its decision to cut its risk in hurricane-prone states followed last year's Hurricane Katrina. In the third quarter of 2005, Allstate lost $1.6 billion after Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast.

Allstate is only the most recent carrier to ask for a double-digit rate hike. State Farm Florida Insurance Co., the state's largest private insurer, recently won a 52.7 percent increase. Nationwide Insurance is seeking a 71.4 percent hike, while USAA wants a 40 percent boost in rates.

In an article in the Sept. 4 issue of Fortune magazine, Allstate's chairman said rates in Florida aren't high enough to offset the risks of doing business in the state, particularly as warmer weather, a growing population and rising home values promise to make hurricane damage costlier than ever.

"If you talk to someone in Florida, they say, 'Boy, in the last five years, my home has gone up 80 percent in value,' " Liddy told the magazine. "But if you ask them, 'Well, are you paying 80 percent more for your insurance?' they would say, 'Oh, no. I only want to pay 8 percent more.' There's a disconnect."

Meanwhile, state officials are looking for ways to keep carriers like Allstate from fleeing the state. Gov. Jeb Bush appointed a commission to study property insurance, and he has said he might call state lawmakers into a special session to address insurance sometime after next week's primary election.

Both Johnson and Klein criticized an insurance reform package approved by the Republican-dominated legislature in May.

"When the insurance industry writes the insurance bill, they end up sticking it to consumers," Klein said.

The calm (or mayhem) before the storm

07:36, 2006-Aug-29 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Well, it looks like we're definitely in for Ernesto here tomorrow. The forecasted track has changed quite a bit since Sunday morning, but has stayed consistently coming up through the state of FL (just wobbled back and forth as to where exactly). It looks as though we're not going to be spared, period. At one point yesterday we were right in the eye's path as it was making its exit back into the Atlantic Ocean. Now the path has veered westward so we'll be to the right of the eye now, and unfortunately, taking the brunt of the winds. We're as prepared as we can be. We still have limbs and such that we cut down lying down on the road for yard trash recycling pickup. They have ignored picking them up for weeks so those will be strewn about all over the place. I hope they don't cause any damage. It's typical of our yard trash recycling to just leave it all lying there (never mind it's a service we have to pay for whether we use it or not and never mind it's hurricane season and they should be picking these type things up on a weekly basis as they are supposed to!).

Dh will be taking off work today about 1pm (he hopes) to come home and see through the last preparations. He'll get plywood up over the windows and somehow I will help him. Ds1 will have to step up to the plate and take charge of watching ds2 for us. We have to get everything moved off the front and back porches (and we have BIG porches with lots of stuff on them!) moved into the garage. That will be an ordeal in itself as the garage is full of all kinds of stuff with the whole house remodel we have in progress and most of the stuff on the porches is remodeling stuff.

I have a couple of teeny loads of laundry to do today. Technically the loads are way to small to be washed, but with the potential for losing our electricity and not knowing when it will be restored (took over 2 weeks with Frances in 2004 and 3 days with Jeanne in 2004 - didn't lose it last year with Wilma), I may as well have it all clean. Dh also wants me to bake some things today. One thing he specifically mentioned is pear bread. Ds1 is not fond of that so I'll make some blueberry muffins for him. I'm not sure what else I'll whip up. I'll be using my 16qt. roaster oven so I don't heat up the whole house with the regular oven. It'll be nice to munch on some 'comfort' food tomorrow while the winds are whipping and howling. I need to check the batteries in everything today as well and get our cell phones charged, although mine doesn't really get a signal here due to all the trees.

We topped off the tanks in our vehicles last night and dh filled our gas cans. He also filled our extra propane tanks for our grill. We went to BJ's and it was quite chaotic. The kiddos and I almost were hit twice in the parking lot just trying to get in the store. Dh stood in line to get the propane tanks filled up, but it actually didn't take long at all. While in line he found out they had run out of regular unleaded gas earlier in the day so he left and filled up one of our vehicles at a station down the road that wasn't busy. He filled his and the gas cans he had with him on the way home at another station and then took his work vehicle and the remainder of our gas cans back to the same station to fill up. He said the second time he was there a man pulled up and called everyone crazy for getting gas because nothing was going to happen and then the man proceeded to unload his own gas cans and fill them and his vehicle up! Such is life here (and yet one of the reasons I would love to move).

We're currently forecasted to get 4-8" of rain and a 4-5 foot storm surge. I know the house will be surrounded by a moat again. The ocean and lagoon will flood us via the creek that our ditches at the road tie into and the land behind us is low and will flood us as usual. What we don't know is how the road that was put in just on the other side of the land behind us and the 2 houses that have been built on the other side of it are going to affect the flooding. We've already seen last year that the road made it worse, but the road wasn't completed then - now it is.

Off to do what I can...................

New plans today

09:21, 2006-Aug-28 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Dh finally started installing the flooring yesterday. The hallway is done and he's worked his way into part of the living room. I had planned today to move everything from around the fireplace and give it a good scrubbing (brick fireplace). We plan to build a surround of sorts for it leaving about half the brick exposed. The new flooring is the click and lock laminate, which should not get wet, so the fireplace really needs its bath before the flooring goes down. However, dh woke me to let me know that tropical storm/hurricane Ernesto has changed forecasted tracks yet again (it's changed many times in the last 24 hours). As it stands now, we'll be in the cone of hurricane winds Wednesday and into the wee hours of Thursday. Ugh! I was so hoping this season was going to remain quiet and mostly inactive. Now I need to get busy doing up all the laundry today, refilling our bottles to have water for flushing the toilets, etc. because I'm sure if it stays on it's current forecasted track we'll be without electricity for sure. We learned all too well in 2004 that where we live is at the bottom of the list for getting the electric restored so if we lose it we could be without it for a while. Off to do what I can...........

A due word

08:38, 2006-Aug-25 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

I have been struggling with my feelings toward the church where we are members. We just joined this church in late Jan./early Feb. 2005 and although we didn't care for every single thing about it (no contemporary music, which is our preference, and extremely few members our age along with extremely few children) we felt that's where we should be. People were friendly, good teaching was taking place, etc. The small group of Wednesday night attendees went through with me the news that my mammogram and following ultrasound showed nothing of concern after all, then the news of my pregnancy, and the events surrounding my pregnancy like having to go see a specialist several times due to my age, our decision to not have an amniocentesis, news that the baby was low and might make an early appearance, etc. The church surprised me with a baby shower (I say surprised because I honestly didn't know their stand on showers and with this being my second baby I honestly figured with them being an older aged congregation that they probably didn't believe in giving showers for second children). Women came that I had never even met! I truly felt good about going there.

My ds2 was born by scheduled c-section at the end of last December. My spinal didn't work so I had to unexpectedly be put under anesthesia for the surgery. The associate pastor called the hospital and one other church member called the day I was discharged and that's it. We had no visitors other than one lady from church who would come and stay with me while dh came home to feed and tend to the dogs and cat. Maybe the Christmas season had something to do with this - who knows? I truly thought that our Sunday School class would offer to bring us a meal once we were home (I know they have done this for other families) or at least call and check on us (since our Sunday School teacher is one of the pastors on staff), but no one did. (Now in their defense, I feel that they probably didn't offer a meal because the teacher's wife knows we eat organics, but after surgery and extremely little sleep in the hospital dh and I might have just thrown caution to the wind and said bring it on.) Time went by and I truly thought that some people would start calling to just say congratulations and that they were thinking of us and keeping us in their prayers. One lady from our Sunday School class did call and say she wanted to visit us but she was sick at the time and knew that she needed to wait until she was well. (We were heavily warned by the on-call pediatrician in the hospital to keep ds2 at home for the first 2 months if at all possible due to him being born during flu season. With the high retiree/snowbird population here during the winter months along with the fact that most of our church are elderly in age, and come to church whether they are sick or not, she said the chances of him getting sick were great.) The associate pastor also called us a few days after we had come home from the hospital. That's it. No one else called. Our Sunday School class did not send a postcard saying we were missed or anything. Ds1's Sunday School class did not send him a postcard until Easter!

Our feelings were (and still are) quite hurt. (I do need to say that the associate pastor did come over and visit us one evening at the beginning of Feb.) Maybe I have the wrong expectations, but I expect my church to be my family. I also expect to find/make friends at church (no one ever said someone has to be my same age to be my friend). We do not have any family here locally and I don't have any family alive other than some aunts, uncles, and cousins (only one aunt stays in touch with me). I had one good friend here locally and she stopped speaking to me after I told her I had learned I was pregnant (same friend had rejoiced with me when I had shared with her earlier in the year that the Lord had put on our hearts to have another child). Dh's family does not stay in touch with him as they should and they have never made me feel a part of their family (they have caused me much hurt actually). My church family knew all this.

What has been the result of all this? We haven't gone back to church. That pains me, especially for ds1 (who asked Jesus into his heart Feb. 1st of this year). It also irritates me that I have heard countless times at this church how they know they are an older congregation and they really need to be reaching out to young families and getting them in the church, otherwise the church is literally going to just die out. Here we are a young family and we are members of the church and they failed to reach out to us during a time when just a phone call (or postcard) to say someone was thinking of me would have made my day (you know what those post-partum days are like if you've had children). Instead I just feel forgotten.

I begged and begged dh to call the associate pastor to let him know why we hadn't been back. I truly wanted them to know where they had gone wrong with this young family so maybe they could do better in the future (I see now that I also wanted them to feel bad and guilty about what they had done ). I have also been carrying around the heavy load that maybe they are all thinking that since we didn't come back that we just used them all to get things for the baby (via the baby shower gifts), which is just not true. Dh kept telling me he wasn't ready to call and wasn't ready to call, but he did intend to call. He never did though and now he tells me he won't be making a call. I disagreed with this decision and let him know, but he said nothing further.

I have been reading Ephesians over and over this week and I know the Lord has been speaking to me through it. For he himself is our peace (Eph. 2:14a) - I need to hold this in my heart. For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. (Eph. 3:14-15) - it's not wrong for me to expect my fellow Christians/church members to be my family because that's what we are! (Side note: I watch Joyce Meyer's television show on weekdays and earlier this week she mentioned that a lot of times when she has an altar call that the people who come instinctively reach out and hold hands as if they know they are now part of a family and that they are. This spoke volumes to me.) Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. (Eph. 5:24) - point taken, I will say nothing further to my dh about this.

I need it, I want it, I have to have it!

03:51, 2006-Aug-22 .. Posted in Crafting .. 4 comments .. Link

So I'm sitting here minding my own business nursing ds2 and I have this absolutely brilliant idea to turn on the tv. I scroll through the program guide and notice that QVC has quite a few scrapbooking/cardmaking/stamping shows on today. Okay, I fall for it. I click the channel numbers on the remote and up pops a die cut show. I watch for a bit, but am just not very interested in what they're showing. I flip to Green Acres instead. Unfortunately it ends and back to QVC I go. A new show comes on and what do they tempt me with? These lovely ink daubers. Darn them! I need them, I want them, I have to have them! "Get me the phone!" I tell ds1. He meanders aimlessly down the hall in search of the phone all the while I'm yelling "Hurry!". LOL In his slowness, ds1 actually saves me a bit of money as the holiday color selection sells out before he presents me with the phone. Oh well. I did get the metallic selection though.

Now in my defense, I do scrapbook and make cards. I just haven't worked on either in a very long time. I like to blame it on the remodeling going on around the old homestead. I won't have that excuse any longer, however, as there is light at the end of the tunnel with the majority of the house and I can once again reclaim one end of the dining room table for such pursuits as scrapbooking and homemade cards. I have quite a few stamps I purchased from a yard sale, plus a couple of sets I purchased on closeout from Stampin' Up, and a set dh and ds1 gifted me with for Christmas. I have to confess that all these were not purchased recently - it was actually at least 3 years ago (or more). I just have never gotten around to buying ink pads. (Yes, I'll go hide under a rock now.)

I don't have the time to run from scrapbook store to scrapbook store - or JoAnn or Michael's for that matter - in search of supplies so QVC is actually a really cool thing in that respect. With how far we live from those stores now and current gas prices, it actually makes it an even better deal for me as these will be delivered right to my door or mailbox, depending on how they're shipped. I'm actually getting a little excited at the thought of sitting down and using them. Uh-oh........ I'd better keep the tv off that channel for the rest of the day!

Progress being made

12:04, 2006-Aug-21 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 2 comments .. Link

Well, it's nice to see some progress being made on all of our remodeling issues. The guy helping dh actually came this weekend and some things got accomplished, but not without running into more problems (as always) first. The crown moulding dh picked out wouldn't work. This house is 25 years old and is completely out of square. We believe it's partially because the original owner built it himself and building codes in this area were pretty lax then (if he even bothered to get permits) and partially because everything here is built on concrete slab and over time as the house settles things get a little out of whack. The joints, seams, corners (whatever they're called) just would not match up and were way too out of whack to be caulked and painted. Dh had to return everything and come up with another solution. I can't explain what they did, but it looks nice. Of course the whole ordeal set us back time wise, but I suppose we should just expect that on every project as that is what's happening to us 90% of the time. Quite a bit of priming and painting got done. I'm not sure when the final coats will go on. Dh is planning on painting the remainder of the ceiling tonight and hopefully will start installing the new flooring in the hallway, dining room, kitchen, and living room in the next day or two. Ds1 will be helping him again so I'm going to have to play "union negotiator" again and determine how much ds1 will be paid. LOL It'll be a nice way for him to earn money and it'll keep me from having to help dh! I did try to help dh when the first bit of this flooring went down in ds1's room and I just did not have the patience to deal with it or figure it out. Ds1 (age 6 at the time) took one look at it (click and lock hardwood laminate flooring) and immediately figured out the process so he helped dh and earned a bit of spending money.

I've been working on getting some things set up with an organic co-op that's being set up through dh's place of employment. It's starting to stress me a little and I certainly don't need the stress, but hopefully people will get off their duffs and get me the info I need to get the process moving along better. Probably what's going to happen is all these people who have said they are interested in ordering are going to end up backing out. Oh well. I truly felt this all was the Lord's doing and an opportunity He was blessing us with, but if it doesn't fly I will just have to go back to ordering from the other co-op I had found. It's a stressful situation in itself that I would rather avoid, but we'll just see what happens.

It also dawned on me over the weekend just how close Christmas is! Ack! I do have a good deal of shopping already completed for ds1 and ds2, but I have got to get started again on the cross stitch gift for ds1. I had been working on it a good deal this month, but it is just a huge project in size (14x17 completed size - that's huge for me!). I'll hopefully get back to work on it and see where I stand at the end of September. I know how I want to make ds2's quilt that will be one of his gifts and I know I can complete it (it'll all be done by hand) if I start no later than the 2nd week of November so I do have a good amount of time left to deal with the cross stitch.

I also finally finished getting about 40lbs. of zucchini into the freezer this weekend. Most of it got shredded to use in quick bread, turkey burgers, spaghetti and the like but I did bread some of it for frying. We purchased a new freezer a little over a week ago and it was supposed to have been delivered this past Saturday, but as is the norm when we are scheduled to get something delivered (from Sears) there is a delay. *sigh* Now it is supposed to come this Thursday. We got the largest size we could fit into the space we have and it'll be great to have more room as the one we have now is filled to capacity. We will be keeping our current one though and moving it into the garage.

Update on my throid

11:59, 2006-Aug-18 .. Posted in Living Naturally .. 1 comments .. Link

I had the appointment with the endocronologist this morning and here's where things stand....

He said my thyroid is slightly overactive. I do not have any symptoms of hyperthyroidism though. He acknowledged that I could be in the postpartum hyperthyroidism stage, but I do have a nodule and that's the concern. He did mention doing a radioactive scan and asked how I felt about that since I am nursing ds2 (since it would require me to stop nursing for several days and pump and dump milk during that time). Dh and I had already discussed this and we are both opposed to going that route (not only because of the whole nursing issue, but it goes against our desire to live a natural lifestyle). He also mentioned putting me on medication (there is one, PTU, that is deemed safe to use while nursing). He asked, since he said it was obvious I had been reading and educating myself on the matter, what I wanted to do. I told him I really wanted to give my thyroid a chance to correct itself in the event that it is just postpartum hyperthyroidism. He said he would be willing to go along with that, but only for a short time. Again, the nodule itself is the issue. What we agreed to do is have me go for more blood work again 5 weeks from now and come to have an appointment with him 1 week afterward (so 6 weeks from today). He will see where my thryoid levels are at according to the blood tests and we will make a decision at that point. He did mention doing a needle biopsy (he told me it will take about 5 minutes and they will stick the needle in 6 times - he warned me that it will sting quite a bit - I am terrified of needles so I do not like the thought of this, but it is a more appealing option than the radioactive scan since I may have to choose between the two). He said if the nodule has shrunk in 6 weeks that he will not do a biopsy. He did not say this, but I am thinking I will probably have to go have another ultrasound on my thyroid to determine if it has shrunk.

So, anyway, dh and I are both praying that this is all postpartum hyperthyroidism and that my thyroid function will correct itself and that the nodule will shrink or completely go away by the time I go for these blood tests in 5 weeks.

The best laid plans...

09:36, 2006-Aug-14 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 4 comments .. Link

Things never do go quite as planned around here. Dh's co-worker was supposed to help him with remodeling projects 2 weekends ago and instead was sick. He was supposed to help both days this past weekend and had something else come up. Dh went to buy wood that he needed for baseboards and crown moulding and he said it looked shabby at every store. It's been an uphill battle to find good, quality materials ever since the hurricanes of 2004. Poor dh did get the hallway and linen closet re-primed (did a far better job than the person we PAID to do it back in May and that's saying a lot as dh is a very messy painter). He also got one coat of paint on as well. We chose to use the Harmony zero VOC paints from Sherwin Williams> and I am very pleased with them. The odor can best be summed up as similar to Elmer's glue and it doesn't last long at all. The primer is a tad stronger than the actual paint. I chose a color called banana creme and it's definitely yellow! I've had since May to live with the color since Sherwin Williams highly suggests you use tinted primer to match the paint. I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but always tend to gravitate toward using it in our homes. This banana creme is perky for sure which I think will add a happy and calm feeling in our home.

Closing my blog for now

11:14, 2006-Jul-27 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 8 comments .. Link

I won't be blogging any more - for how long, I don't know. There are a few reasons behind this.

I just heard from my primary care physician's office. They received the results of my blood tests from this past weekend and in addition to me having hyperthyroidism (although all my physical symptoms still point to hypothyroidism), my blood sugar levels are elevated which means I may be prediabetic or diabetic (I wasn't given much info on the phone and the call woke ds2 so trying to talk over a crying baby was pretty much useless). I was not told to fast for my blood tests and I should have been. *sigh* I should have been asked at the lab if I was fasting before my blood was drawn and I wasn't. *sigh* Dh and I honestly do not remember if I ate or drank anything before I went to the lab or not. He seems to think I did and I think I didn't until I came home. Anyway, I have to go again this weekend and have more blood drawn after fasting to see if my levels are again elevated. One other test came back out of proportion as well and I can't remember what the person who called said it was, but if I did eat or drink that could be what caused it to be off as well.

All these medical issues are weighing heavily on me. Add to that the stress from ds1 being out of control behavior wise (all jealousy issues with the baby even though he loves him dearly and dh and I don't know how to fix it) and I am just a wreck emotionally and physically. Dh is adding to the stress by telling me over and over that we just need to put ds1 in private school. I am completely against that as I am passionate about homeschooling and still feel that is what the Lord wants us to do. Dh says he also disagrees with ds1 being in private or public school, but somehow he thinks that will solve the stress. I can't get through to him that it will not make the jealousy issue go away and all it will do is create more stress for me having to deal with a school system I am against and a way of life that I do not feel the Lord has called us to lead.

I have many things on my plate that I need to be focusing on such as time with my kids, homeschool lesson planning, educating myself about my medical issues, etc. I don't think my blog gets read much anyway and I don't feel I contribute in the capacity here that others do as far as helpful information and such. I have no real life friends and just a handful of online friends so yes, I do seek friendships online and it is disheartening to me when hardly any comments are made on my blog posts. I know I need to stop fretting over that though and stop seeking friendships online. What I need to do is let Jesus be my best friend. I turn to others before I turn to Him and that has to stop.

Last summer library program

05:25, 2006-Jul-26 .. Posted in Baby Love .. 3 comments .. Link

We're feeling a bit sad today because it marked the last day of the summer library programs this year. June and July just zoomed by so fast! Today's entertainer was Jiggleman. We've had the opportunity to see him previously at another library (I can't remember if it was last year or the year before). His crazy antics scared ds2 this morning early on in the show and ds2 started crying. We went and stood in the doorway and all was fine. Ds1 was laughing so hard he was shrieking. The children's librarian had a nice little spread of munchies both yesterday and today for the kids. I was extremely impressed with the programs at this particular library branch. Ds1 received a book bag for participating in the summer reading program. :)

After lunch I snuggled with my two gorgeous boys and read a few books. We loved all 3, which were...

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Let's Go Home, Little Bear by Martin Waddell

Welcome to the River of Grass by Jane Yolen

This evening we're supposed to go in search of more clothes for ds1 while purchases are still tax free. I also have to remember to photograph ds2 tonight because he's 7 months old today!

Tax free shopping

08:45, 2006-Jul-24 .. Posted in Saving Money .. 1 comments .. Link

I headed out with the masses this past weekend to take advantage of our state's tax free shopping days. Late Saturday afternoon I was able to go to Marshall's and TJMaxx by myself (I suppose that time alone was my birthday gift, LOL). I had no luck finding any clothes at Marshall's, but did find 3 shirts for ds1 in the next size he'll need at TJMaxx. They are a surfing brand that he loves (so he can be like daddy when he wears them) and we'll give them to him for Christmas. I also found a couple of things for him for Christmas there and a few things for ds2 for Christmas (book, Melissa & Doug puzzles, and a stacking set).

Yesterday we headed out at 11am and didn't get home until almost 9pm! We spent the day shopping in Vero Beach. The first stop was the outlet mall there and we had no luck finding clothes for the kiddos, with the exception of a pair of swim trunks for ds1. I did stock up on Badger Balms at the Springmaid store and got a fabulous price (they were on sale on top of being discounted) so that was a great find. A new (to us) discount book store was there and I got a couple of things for ds1 for Christmas and a toddler Bible for ds2 for his 1st birthday. Then we were off to the mall. No luck at Ross. I think that was a blessing in a way. There were only 2 registers open (still scratching my head over that) and both lines were outrageously long. We struck out in Sears for ds1 as well. The poor kid needs a size slim in shorts and pants and even though he was trying on slims, every single pair slid right down and puddled on the floor around his ankles. I wanted so badly to find something to fit him that I was willing to pay an amount I would never consider for a pair of Pirates of the Caribbean camo shorts at the Disney store. Ds1 tried them on and guess what....... they were too big. Aughhhhhhhhhh! We FINALLY had luck at JCPenney. We found ONE pair of slim jeans in his size and two pairs of camo pants - all fit him. I truly hated giving Penny's the business. I've boycotted them ever since they had a t-shirt for sale that was very offensive to homeschoolers, but I suppose yesterday proved desperate times call for desperate measures. Ds1 was byond frustrated by the time we made it there and was crying in the fitting room. Poor kid! We stopped by Target for some socks and undies and came on home.

I still need many more things, especially for ds1. He just keeps growing taller, but that little skinny waist of his doesn't get any bigger. Our tax free days go through this coming weekend so I'll have to figure out where else we can try. Does anyone shop at Kohl's? Do they sell slim sizes in jeans and shorts? We have one of those somewhat nearby, but I never travel to the city where it's located so I haven't shopped there before.

Gloomy Saturday

10:18, 2006-Jul-22 .. Posted in Homestead Musings .. 3 comments .. Link

Today is my birthday and it's looking to be a gloomy day out. We're going in a bit to look at some shoes for ds2 and drop off some things at a thrift store, then all my guys are taking me out to lunch at Red Lobster. I hope we don't end up soaked by rain! I hope to go back out shopping this evening for some clothes for ds1 to give him for Christmas (our tax free shopping days start today).

This morning I had to go have more blood drawn at the lab concerning my thyroid. Usually it takes about 10 minutes total between checking in, showing my ins. card, getting paperwork printed, getting called back to the lab, and actually having the blood drawn. Today it took 40 minutes just to get called back to the lab and then they had to draw 7 vials of blood for all the various tests my doctor is running! My arm is pretty sore now, but hopefully it won't be too bad.

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