Confessions of an ADhD, Artist, WAHM

What's been going on?

2008-07-03T18:30:00.008-04:00

I've been receiving emails "Hey Marla where are you? Whats going on?" So, here's an update. I've been spending almost every night at the revival in Florida. Todd Bentley is a very anointed man of God http://freshfire.ca/ who went to http://ignitedchurch.com/ Lakeland, Florida on April 2 to hold a 4 day conference. He is still there, they put up a 10,000 seat tent. There are people coming from all over the world to be in the anointing of God. This is very big! The really cool thing is you can watch this every night at http://www.god.tv . This is very amazing! I am excited about what God is doing. Twice I've gotten to hear the teaching from http://citytaker.com/about how to take this message to the streets. What message is that? "The Kingdom of God is at hand." As a result of this I've been completely and totally healed of asthma. I've taken no medication for it since May 10th. The other neat thing is I've taken no anti-depressants since about May15th. If your part of the revival police I don't want to hear what you think. If you are hungry for God than please check it out.

Other things to be updated are Shakespeare camp, writing camp, Cub Scout camp, vacation and the neat story about the piece of chocolate that tormented me and the fact that the garden is doing well.

Floored

2008-06-04T13:55:00.005-04:00

Last night we went to the award banquet for The Teen.

WOW!

She was the only one in her school who achieved a 4.0 average for the year. Also she received the Niehaus award. This is a huge honor that goes to 1 senior each year. "The Niehaus Award is given annually to a student who exemplifies the core values of the Academy." "A person whose sense of dedication to the school and to other students is unsurpassed. " The 2 quotes are from the letter that accompanied the award. It said a lot more, but I felt I needed to let The Teen decide how much I posted about it.

Her parents are very happy with her.

This is her happy 18th birthday picture.

The Prom

2008-04-28T08:06:00.002-04:00

Saturday night was the pirates ball.

Hiding

2008-04-28T08:00:00.007-04:00

Yes, Yes, I've been hiding out. First it was Easter, than it was my birthday, after that it was battle of the bands. Saturday night was Prom, but that gets its own post.

The Woodcarver and the Stickers

2008-04-08T10:56:00.003-04:00

A long time ago I heard this story and it really moved me. It has stayed with me for years. I don't remember if I read it or heard it. These last few weeks God has really been doing some amazing stuff in my life. I'm so thankful for this sense of peace I've been feeling. As I've dwelt on what God has been doing I remembered this story about the woodcarver and the wooden people with stickers. One of them of them told another one that because she visited the woodcarver every day the stickers would not stick to her. She encouraged the other to go and visit the woodcarver.

Well, I've been spending more time with the woodcarver and stickers are falling off me. So I decided to try to look up the story. I was surprised to find it was written by Max Lucado. The story is about a group of wooden people called the Wemmick's and you can read it here. This is truly an amazing story! Now there is a whole series of books about this group, but I'm going to look for the book Tell Me The Secrets. It sounds like something I'd like to read with the kids.

That Was Easy!

2008-04-05T10:46:00.008-04:00

My sewing machine is 20 years old. Here is a picture of a machine like it. So this wonderful machine is now out of warranty. Of course I had nothing to do with it, nor did Superior Threads, nor did the Organ Needle company... Anyway since I did not feel like driving across town to the sewing store, nor did I feel like paying them $70 to look at it, nor did I feel like being without it for a week I decided to be brave, open it up and try to fix it myself. I was able to do it and after only an hour of digging with a pair of tweezers I got the offending threads out. Later my dear sweet husband was so happy with me he bought me Subway for dinner. YEA! OK, fast forward to today. I turn on my machine and see a battery warning flashing. UM, OK, I've had this machine for 20 years now and I guess thats a long time for a battery to last. What to do? What to do? I walk over here, sit down and look up the machine number and battery. I'm taken to a message board from 2004 and complete directions to how to change the batteries. WOW! That was easy! I turned on the machine flipped it on its back removed the cover and put in 2 AA batteries.

What To Blog About?

2008-04-04T10:18:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, I was at the library waiting until my littles were out of school(the library shares a parking lot with the school). I was just browsing around and I saw a book (a book with about 100 pages) about blogging. Yes, this was a book about what to blog about. Yes, this book was ideas to put on your blog. Like nothing happens here, so I need ideas? Usually, I'm just too lazy to make another post, but ideas are limitless. For instance, this morning, I woke up late, so the kids got up late. If you don't think that makes for good blog fodder, then you don't live in a house with lots of kids. Of course, since I had also gone to bed early last night, I did not make sure that every one's homework was done. So, my dear sweet boy had not read his 2 books that he had to take tests on today. Sigh, I was getting breakfast ready when he said 'Um, mom I need another book because I've already read this one,' So I meander over to the computer to look up online to see what other book I can hand him, and I see that another child has not packed up her backpack and, in fact, all her homework is spread out around the computer. Sigh! OK, I call that child to come pick up her stuff and call the boy to stir the scrambled eggs (a job he has not done recently). When I get back to the eggs, I find that he has stirred only the top layer, not the now-solidified layer on the bottom of the pan. I fix the eggs, and he starts reading, but I can't pay attention to him, because no one can find the lunch bags. It so happens that I forgot to buy lunch bags-of course no one put them on the grocery list and yesterday I went to two stores, but never mind, 'here use this bag. No, you can't wear that shirt to school. Yes, I'm sure we have more sandwiches made in the freezer go look in the downstairs freezer. I know we are out of bread on the counter, here is some from the freezer...' In comes the neighbor to ride to school with us, she sits next to the boy and he reads to her. I enjoy hearing them giggle together when they get to the funny parts of the book. The Teen in a cute pirate bandanna starts talking about how good her hair looks today. 'Um, sweetie, I can't see your hair,' The battle of the bands is next week and she is exited about it. Uh oh, now she's running late and I still want that case of water from my trunk that she did not have time to carry in yesterday. Look out, it's my day to drive the kids to school, how did I miss that? I run to the bedroom to put on some shoes and a jacket that will cover my hair, and out the door we go.

Swan Lake

2008-04-02T09:54:00.007-04:00

I have seen Swan Lake several times. I have never seen anything like this. It is truly amazing. WOW!!! This talent is truly a gift!

Visiting Friends

2008-03-30T14:53:00.010-04:00

We've had a really busy week here. I took some of the kiddo's to visit friends. I learned how to spin wool into yarn and my Boy learned how to milk a cow.

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T17:23:00.006-04:00

My Blog is 1 year old now. Thanks to all who visited me this past year.

Today is Easter. Please enjoy this picture of an Easter Lilly complements of the ASPCA who warns that this plant can be lethal to cats. Since I don't have a cat I don't think I'll worry too much about it. I'm really looking forward to this very fun and very busy week that the kiddos have off school. This is my last years Easter post.

This Easter season has been a very special one to me. If you've read my whole blog you know that last year I was saying "I'm not Catholic and WON'T be, because I am a protestant." Actually I said I was a pedestrian who carried the love of Jesus everywhere I walked (I still am). I said a lot of other things too, but we won't go there now. Last August my sweet DH and I started taking an R.C.I.A. program. We both really enjoyed it very much and found little we did not agree with. I don't feel the need to ask the Saints that have gone before me to pray for me, because I can ask people here now to do it. When I first started thinking about this it was awkward. Than I realized that if I believe that people are alive in heaven than why can't I ask them to pray for me. I still don't really feel comfortable asking Mary to pray for me either, but that doesn't affect my faith in her son. In December we were asked if we wanted to continue toward being Catholic and we both said yes. We could see what God was doing in the church and felt very comfortable there. I am so happy with the education that my children are receiving and the friends they are making. The class culminated last night in an Easter Vigil. It was a very beautiful service where we were welcomed into the church. I know that many of my protestant friends don't understand or agree with what we are doing. I can honestly say that I am not being coerced into anything and I am NOT joining the church to 'get the school discount.' Since I have been following God down this unexpected path he has poured out on us in a mighty way. I am very much enjoying the beauty that I find in the mass and I leave there going in peace to love and serve the Lord. I really have much to say about what God is doing for me through this, but I have other things I want to go do now.

Happy Easter!

The Find Of The Week!

2008-03-19T08:46:00.003-04:00

I bought some Palm kernel oil from Columbus Foods. If you 've never seen PKO it is a very solid, solid at room temperature. Since I ordered a 7 pound bottle it came in a bottle. I did not know how I was going to get it out of the bottle to use it. After some thinking I decided to melt it down and pour it into ice cube trays, let it harden and store it in zip bags. The only problem is I needed ice cube trays. So off I go to the thrift store. I LOVE going to the thrift store. I had to go to 2 stores to find what I was looking for. Hee, hee, at the first store I found baseball shoes for my boy for $.50 and some really nice tiny correlle bowels. I like for the kids to use tiny bowls because they always take more cereal than they really will eat. The big find came at the second thrift store. I found a Krups ice cream maker for $7.50. I came home and looked them up and read that people who paid $60 for them were thrilled. YEA! The base of the machine has to be chilled for 48 hours than you pour in your ice cream mixture and wallah, home made ice cream. Tomorrow we will try it.

Whole Foods

2008-03-14T13:49:00.002-04:00

I'm looking for a whole foods coop to buy some bulk items from. If you know of one or are in one please contact me.

Thanks (insert smiley face here)

Crackers

2008-03-13T10:46:00.006-04:00

I have the most amazing book. It's The Bread Bakers Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. This week I baked crackers using his recipe. Well mostly using his recipe. I used active dry yeast because that is what I had and I rolled out the crackers with the noodle machine. They were amazing!

Oh, you wanted the recipe...

With credit given here it is:
1 1/2 C bread flour
1/2 t salt
1/2t instant yeast (I used active dry)
1T vegetable oil
1T honey
1/3 to 1/2 C water

350 degrees, roll out to 12" x 15" and bake 15 to 20 minutes. I rolled it WAY thinner than that and baked them for 7 minutes. I made slices with a pizza cutter misted them with water and sprinkled sea salt on them. Ibaked them on parchment.
I can't believe how good they are.

Surprise!

2008-03-10T20:12:00.002-04:00

Yesterday my sweet husband and I got a surprise when we got home from church. I had made bagels (another post) and than DH and I left to go to church. We did not drag out the kiddos because there was a foot of snow on the ground. Anyway when we got home there was this sign above the microwave with plates fixed. I did not take a picture of the plates, but they had sliced bagels covered in cream cheese and cut up apples with a big pitcher of OJ. Thanks Guys!

Playing in Flour

2008-03-08T15:58:00.003-05:00

Last week I bought a 50lb. bag of flour. I asked So and The Boy to decant it into some containers. I took pictures of the job being done.

Well, pictures will be forthcoming when blogger gets its act together.

I got an Award

2008-03-07T12:31:00.007-05:00

My friend Marye over at Kettle and Cup gave me an award. Thanks Marye! You are such an inspiration to me. You accomplish things that my energy level doesn't even let me dream about. You have made many of my days special.

So, I am susposed to pass on this award to 10 people. Pikachu I choose you! Oh, wait, no stop. Dang it, yesterday I broke the space bar on my keyboard and now it is really hard to type. Ok, thats better. I choose:

1. Deb over at Deb fixes America, because she is my friend and she has embarked on a great mission to fix America.

2. I choose Emergency Emily, over at Backboards and Band-aids, because I think she is adorable.

3. I choose Ree, at The Pioneer Woman, because hers is the first blog I read every day.

4. I choose Holly at The Happy Doodler, because I really enjoy reading her blog. She has adorable kids, makes neat stuff, posts cool pictures and nice wordy stuff. She is very creative and I'd like to be her friend if we lived closer.

5. I choose Mel over at Actual Unretouched Photos, because she keeps it real and as busy as she is she wrote to me a while ago and asked how things were going with me off sugar. Mel, I'm still off sugar, though its been harder lately.

Locks of Love

2008-03-06T14:21:00.004-05:00

My beautiful, wonderful, and very special Teen2, whom I will continue to call Sa on the blog, because she doesn't mind, donated a ponytail to Locks of Love this week. I am very proud of her this is the third time she has sent them a pony tail.

When You Give a Mouse a Cookie

2008-03-05T17:43:00.012-05:00

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is my boy's favorite book. This post is really about The Teen, I mean Teen 1. When you send a teen to 'Rock and Roll High School' what can you expect except that the teen will be musically creative. So The Teen I mean Teen 1 (this is not going to work and I'll explain it in another post) came home about a week ago and said "so, I'm in a band." Than The Teen comes home and hands me pictures to upload. They are going to be in a battle of the bands contest and they will choose one of these pictures to submit with their CD.

The Oven Picture

2008-03-05T17:40:00.002-05:00

Finally the oven specs can be read here.

Teen 1 and Teen 2

2008-03-04T22:22:00.003-05:00

I have been informed that Sa no longer wants to be called Sa. It was OK when it was just Mom calling her Sa or Saysay, but now that more people started calling her Sa it bugs her. So when I say "Sa" I am told "I have a name and it is x-many letters long." So hence forth she is Teen 2.

It reminds me of when she loved the book The Cat in the Hat...

2008-03-04T05:59:00.004-05:00

So, Marla... What Happend with the Oven?

2008-03-03T10:54:00.003-05:00

The oven saga.

The guys from Best Buy came on Friday to deliver my oven. The kids had shoveled the snow off the grass around to the back deck. It is much easier to carry things into the house from the back. besides that the front door doesn't work. The delivery guys would not take the oven through the side yard around to the back door. They said the side yard was too hilly. Those of you who have seen my side yard know its almost as hilly as a concrete floor. Anyway this guy would just not go an extra mile or even an extra 50 feet. He said liability prevented him from taking it to the back of the house. I asked him to help me open the front door and he would not. Did I mention this is a BIG guy. Anyway even if he could have taken it into the front door he would have had to go through the hall way and like I said its easier to go in the back door. He would not tell me "NO" he went outside and called the store and had them call me to tell me "NO." So he left with my oven. The store said they would try again to deliver my oven on Monday. I was so angry! The only reason I bought the stove from them was because they we were willing to deliver it this week and I had driven far out of my way to go to this store when the Home Depot which is 1 mile from my house could have delivered it on Tuesday. I was ready to go pick it up, but my dear sweet husband says to wait until Monday and let them deliver it. I humbly waited. I did not say patiently I said humbly.

Monday gets here and since I've not heard from them I call. "Oh, sorry we won't be delivering the oven until Tuesday, because we don't come to your area on Monday." I was now fuming! I said "You will deliver my oven today or you will keep it." They gave me a run around and so I called the store manager who said "is there anything I can do to get you to keep this oven?" I said "yes, DELIVER IT TODAY!" He could not do that so I canceled my order. Than I got back online and went to the Home Depot sight to order my oven. They are changing shipping companies and could deliver it March 12. AAAK! UG!

So I get in my car and go to the nice local company that I should have gone to first. I walk in the door and say I need an oven. The nice guy pulls out a book and asks me to pick out the configuration of the top burners. I pick my first choice. Than we go through the rest of my first choices. He says this is your oven and gives me the price. Cough! Um, I really can't spend that much. So I decide the most important features and than he looks at what he has in stock. They had one that would be fine. They delivered it that day! Did you hear that? SAME DAY DELIVERY! I was so happy. Today I took them some cookies.

I forgot to mention the best part. I opened the front door for the delivery guys and they took 1 look at the hall way and said "can we go around back?"

2008-03-02T07:58:00.006-05:00

Last week we had an ice storm. I was able to get some really fun pictures. I made the Teen come with me and since I was there to take pictures she felt the need to dress the part.

Paper Art

2008-03-02T07:57:00.000-05:00

Today I was very blessed when I clicked on this. It is like eye candy.

Birthdays, Friends and Teenagers

2008-02-26T14:25:00.006-05:00

I now have 2 teenagers in the house. I remember my friend telling me that your family functions at the mean age of your children. I found this to be true when they were younger. I wonder what the excuse could be now? Anyway this past week I graduated to a new level of parenthood.

So, she planned her party, planned her menu, handed me a list of ingredients she needed, than proceeded to tell me how important it was for her to go with me to the store. We went grocery shopping together and she got what she needed. The only thing I did was make the crepe wraps.

You'll never guess what her mom got her for her birthday???

The Oven Saga

2008-02-26T14:21:00.002-05:00

Is it me? Do I make things more difficult for me? Do I go the extra mile to ensure things will be complicated??? Coming soon; to a blog near you: The Oven Saga!

This post will probably be grammatically corrected by a certain teenager.

Out with the old in with the New

2008-02-21T21:46:00.003-05:00

I choose an LG electric range to replace the one that put on a show the other day. I really wanted a gas range and I have a gas line that runs right under where I'd need to plug in an oven, but I can't vent it to the outside. So for now I'll stick with electric. I really like the big blue oven this one has. I wonder about the touch screen, but it is rated excellent.

Things You Don't See Everyday

2008-02-19T11:03:00.000-05:00

Frozen in Grand Central Station is a great video clip. This is one of the best pranks I've seen in a while.

The Death of the Range

2008-02-18T21:55:00.002-05:00

Well if your going to die you may as well go out in style and with a bang. That is just how my range died a very dramatic death today. First it started sparking than the baking element in the oven started looking like a blow torch and sizzling. It was slowly burning in a spiral pattern around the element. We turned the oven off, but it kept burning, and burning, and burning. Very impressive! Anyway we than pulled the oven out and unplugged it. Finally it started slowing down and finally went out. Half of the element is very impressive pattern burned into it. I was thinking eventually I'd save up some money and buy a wolf range with 30,000 btu's. Well, it's not going to happen here anytime soon so I will be having this one delivered on Friday. I wondered if it was a good idea to have a touch screen oven, but I LOVE the blue interior. I also like the bottom not having an element visible to drip things on. Oh, Happy Day! We are getting a new oven. Until than I will be cooking in the microwave and on the pancake griddle.

Friends

2008-02-18T11:22:00.003-05:00

My boy has a friend. They act like boys together. It is very sweet.

Moving Moutians

2008-02-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

The Bible says to speak to the mountain and say "be thou removed and cast into the sea."

Hello, my name is Marla and I tend to collect stuff. I now find myself in a place where there is too much stuff. So, I am standing at the bottom of the pile saying "stuff, be thou removed and cast into the sea" or "stuff, you are no longer welcome here, you are going in the Name of Jesus." Last week and this week I am getting rid of stuff. MUCH stuff. Videos, books, clothes, junk, toys, its all out of here.

Mardi Gras

2008-02-06T09:42:00.000-05:00

Wow! Its been over a week since I bounced in here to update you on my life. Last night we went to a Mardi Gras celebration at the church. It was really fun! Here are some highlights...

Egg on My Face

2008-01-29T08:49:00.000-05:00

No, no not egg on my face, dirt on my furnace filter. For several days I've been noticing that my new furnace (1 year old) has been going "ka THUMP!" each time it kicks on or off. This is very distressing considering what we paid for it. So I called the company that installed it. This morning a very nice service person came to check it out. He pulled out the filter and said "this is your problem" "OH, I feel so embarrassed!" He said that the static from the dust in the filter was causing a charge to pop in the big pipe thing that leaves the furnace. He was right because I popped in another filter and the problem was solved. I used to change the filter every month, but than I started forgetting. He suggested that when his gas and electric bill comes that is his reminder to change his filter. Ouch! Well, he had an easy start to his day.

Rock and Roll High School

2008-01-29T08:37:00.001-05:00

I think I mentioned that The Teen goes to Rock and Roll High School. They just had their second quarter performance. It was loud.

My Friend Deb

2008-01-27T05:06:00.000-05:00

I was over at my friend Deb's blog and she had some things to say about beer. I don't totally share Deb's point of view on beer, mainly because I like the taste, but it was pretty amusing to watch.

School Projects

2008-01-25T16:54:00.001-05:00

This is Catholic school week at Sa, So and The Boy's school. They each had big projects due. This is The Boy's project. It is a diorama box of about a Fairy Tale. He choose Jack and the Bean Stalk. I think it came out really good. Sa had to create an instrument. I forgot to take a picture as it was not completed until the very LAST minute. So made a poster about an endangered species.

The Teen

2008-01-25T16:46:00.001-05:00

The Teen sends this picture of her other wall.

Teenagers

2008-01-23T10:21:00.000-05:00

Here is something that can happen when a teenager loses electronic privileges. She increased the value of our house with a wall mural.

Warning! Warning!!! Orange Hawaiian Punch

2008-01-19T10:07:00.000-05:00

This product should come with a BIG WARNING LABEL! In the past we have had problems with a kid and red Hawaiian Punch. Since that kid avoids this beverage I did not think any more about it. Until last Wednesday night. Now I think this product needs warning labels on it. The evening started pretty innocently, a kid went to a function and a snack was served. The snack was cake and orange Hawaiian punch. This child had never had this drink before. When I picked up the child they were pretty wound up, but sometimes they are so I did not think much of it. After we were in the car for about 5 minutes the kid was talking a mile a minute. I kept telling said kid to settle down, but it just was not happening. When we got home the kid was running in circles, talking fast and blinking their eyes. I was like "what is up with this?" Their behavior continued to get more and more bizarre. They were shaking all over talking fast, their eyes were very dilated and blinking fast and they were running in circles. Their right leg was shaking the worst. If you held the leg still the left arm went wild. If you held the wiggling pinky still, the thumb started swinging around. After about 10 minutes of this I was loosing it. My sweet DH came in and asked if maybe we should give said child some Benadryl? I said "YES" great Idea because clearly this is an allergic reaction to something. I gave some Benadryl and lots of water. It was hard to get water into the child because they kept spilling it down the front of themselves. About 1 hour after we gave the medicine we left the child on the sofa in the dark with a blanket and pillow. It only took about 5 minutes for them to fall asleep. Thankfully it was over, but it was very scary! Only once before have I had a child this out of control and that time they were also hallucinating. That time I took them to the ER and they got Haldol. This time the kid was happy. VERY, VERY, VERY happy! The word MANIC could discribe the behavior. Scary!

Passing Through the Water

2008-01-16T04:48:00.001-05:00

Last night So and Sp were baptized. First the Priest had to flick us all with the holy water so we could be sure it was the right temperature. Than they stepped up and got their heads sprinkled in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

After that the two were anointed with wonderful smelling holy oil, blessed, and given candles and shoulder warmers (bibs). It was very sweet when the Priest told them to make a wish and blow out their candles. Actually the whole thing was very sweet.

UG!

2008-01-09T14:26:00.001-05:00

I did it again. Open mouth and insert foot. I did not mean to but I hurt a bunch of feelings today and I feel really bad about it.

Cell Models

2008-01-08T11:49:00.000-05:00

This is the time of the year that teachers like to assign projects. The latest project to leave our house and head for the school was models of plant and animal cells. The bases of these cells are paper mache with the parts being made of salt dough and painted with acrylics. The black dots are seed beads. The top of the animal cell flips up and down. Click on the picture to see it up close.

Sadness and Thankfulness

2008-01-04T12:39:00.000-05:00

Today I learned that a friend's husband passed away last night. I feel so sad for her, her family and their loss. At the same time I felt so thankful for my own husband. I gave him an extra hug this morning.

Welcome 2008

2008-01-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

What a ride! The holidays are finally over :) Where's the smiley gif when you need one. The kids are all back to school today. I have a house that needs to be cleaned, sewing to be done, soap to be made and a pile of stuff to list for sale. I'm happy that 2008 is here. I'm looking forward to this being a year of greater stability for me. Two kids are wanting to go to Ohayocon in Columbus this weekend. One has a cell model to build another has an endangered species report to do.

Now for the HUGE blessing of yesterday. I have a very tall friend
(hi friend \o <---that's me waving) who asked me to hem some pants that were too long. Hard for me to imagine since she's like WAY taller than me, but I was happy to do it. I could not charge her because of the many times she has been a blessing to me. Yesterday I returned some hemmed pants to her and she gave me a gift card to Applebees. Yea! Now who can I find to go out to lunch with???

The Holiday Soap Swap

2008-01-01T23:15:00.001-05:00

This is the amazing stuff that came in my soap swap box. I am truly blessed to be learning from such an amazing and talented group of soapers. This stuff smells and looks awesome.

A Very Happy Christmas

2007-12-26T11:48:00.001-05:00

First
were
the
sibling
gifts.

Than the Dad gift.

After that the Mom gift.

Next the new PJ's

After that the singing of Christmas carols. It really got funny when Deck the walls was ending and someone said "faster". This year I got wiser and made some song books.

Here's how to make a Teen very happy:

The Boy got air hogs helicopters. Very
fun! DUUUUUCK!

Sa the wordie person who loves to impress people with her big words got a vocabulary building kit.

Gosh and much more... We are very blessed. Not all the gifts were opened. People got busy playing with new stuff and it got late. Maybe tomorrow. Than there is that gift for the 4 pirates. I wonder when they will show up?

So what do you want for Christmas?

2007-12-24T17:51:00.000-05:00

Dh had told the kids that they could not open gifts until their rooms were clean. Since they have had upset stomachs the extended family decided not to visit us on Christmas Day. So I have 10 pounds of ham and not much fixins to go with it. I asked each kid what they wanted with the ham and decided to go to the store. About half way through the store I get a call. "Mom, when will you be home our rooms are clean." Usually we open at least 1 gift on Christmas Eve. We are planning to go to midnight mass which is at 11:00 not midnight.

Comming Soon the details of the amazing box I got today that contained my soap swap stuff...

And So Happy Christmas

2007-12-23T16:31:00.000-05:00

I was going to show you a picture of the cute gift sacks we sent to teachers but alas, I seem to have lost a bunch of pictures. I also can't show you a picture of Sa all dressed up as Mary or the beautiful dancers at the schools closing program. Nor can I show you pictures of my handsome boy and the GIANT holiday choir singing songs. SIGH! I don't know what happened to the pictures, I remember uploading them.

I can however show you these pictures.

First is my sisters big lug of a dog who kept trying to sit on my lap while we were opening gifts.

Second is my beautiful Teen who was very surprised and thrilled with her holiday gifts. Someone special calls her Tomo-J Chan so my sisters had that engraved on a new ipod for her.

I got a stained glass angel and a very big Ohio State Fan made out quite well.

Last Night we had a big wind storm and we woke up to the grill having gone flying.

Party time ended early for us because 3 of my lovely, beautiful children seem to have a stomach bug of some kind and it became evident just after consuming lots of Holiday goodies that I spent most of yesterday making.

Mega Christmas Cheer!

2007-12-15T08:30:00.001-05:00

I found this today on Grunt Docs site. WOW! Just WOW! It's a short video of the 12 days of Christmas sung acapella. WOW!

More Christmas Cheer

2007-12-13T12:48:00.001-05:00

Today while I was surfing the blogs I visit regularly, some of which I have yet to post links too, I found this. Sea Spray writes a great blog! And, it is a wonderful life. The grammar police are probably going to visit me after this post.

Bath Tub Water Temperature

2007-12-13T10:13:00.000-05:00

Today I fixed something in my house that has been bugging me for most of the 9+ years we have lived here. In the beginning I understood that I needed to leave things the way they were because I had small children. However I no longer have small children and the medium sized children I now have been complaining about this situation lately. What situation??? The bathtub water temperature, thats what situation. Our home has 3 full bathrooms. Two of them have only showers. The kids bathroom is the one with the bathtub. For several years when someone wanted a hot bath they had to take a cup or bucket and dump the HOT water from the sink into the tub. The tub would only run warm water. NO MORE! I fixed it! It took some figuring out to get the job done, but as So would say "yea me."

Christmas Cheer

2007-12-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

This link will take you to my favorite Christmas song. Be patient and it will play for you.

The Baby Shower

2007-12-11T08:32:00.001-05:00

Sadly I forgot to take the camera to the Shower. They played the most awesome shower game EVER!!! It was hilariously funny and very gross and disgusting at the same time. Here is the way it is played.

1. First take 8 newborn diapers and open them up. Put a number on the outside of the diaper 1 - 8.
2. Take 8 different chocolate candy bars example: Hershey's, kit Kat, Twixt, milky way... mush them up and melt them in the diapers.
3. Give each participant a paper to number 1 - 8.
4. Pass around the diapers and let the guests guess what kid of candy bar is in the diaper. It is especially gross if they are still warm.

Marye Does it Again!

2007-12-10T08:33:00.000-05:00

My amazing friend Marye started another blog. This one is called Kettle and Cup and it's a lovely blog. I clicked on the link to Adagio teas and bought my mom a lovely holiday gift. If you are thinking of ordering from them let me know I can send you a $5 coupon and than get points for recommending them to you. Nice job Marye!

St. Nicholas Day

2007-12-06T10:28:00.000-05:00

I have 4 of the most amazing kids on the planet! So, this being St. Nicholas Day they each received a beautiful star in their shoes.

Being honest here, in order for this to happen DH chased them down last night and made them leave their shoes neatly by the side door. He orchestrated the whole thing and pulled it off beautifully. He really is a great dad and loves his kids very much.

Baby Shower

2007-12-06T09:11:00.000-05:00

Third try.

I'm going to a baby shower on Saturday. When someone I know is having a baby and it is a first baby or they have not had a baby in a while I like to give a baby food mill. I did not get one of these until I had my 4th baby. I like the one with the crank handle. I tried to buy one at several places this week and everyone near here is out of them.

Award Winning Dumbness

2007-12-04T12:22:00.000-05:00

On Black Friday I went shopping. I went to JoAnn’s and to Kohl’s. Happily for me I had just gotten a job so I had a little money to spend. After my purchases at Kohl’s I received some Kohl’s Cash. It was a card that gave me 1 week to use up some extra cash. I put off using it until Friday because I knew they would be having another sale. I had bought some pants at the first sale. Since I’ve been loosing weight I needed some pants that fit. Because of the craziness at the store I did not try on the pants the day I got them. When I did they were too big. So, last Friday when I went to use my Kohl’s cash I was going to exchange the pants. OK, here it the part where I bang my head on the table. I took the pants into the store to exchange them and before I had gotten the new pants to the register I lost the ones I was going to exchange. Yes, I set them down somewhere in the store and could not find them. I did not realize that I had done that until I got to the register to exchange them. I had the new pants but the old ones were gone. I almost cried! I called the manager over and explained the problem. She rescued me and believed me. She will be receiving a thanks and DH suggests some soap too.

Craft Show

2007-12-03T12:14:00.001-05:00

Being the type of person that just jumps into something with 2 feet and not checking out how deep the water is can really present some interesting paths in life. On Wednesday I saw an ad in the community paper. It advertised a craft show on Dec. 1. I thought about it and felt that I could whip up enough stuff to fill a table. Ha ha ha I did not realize that it was so close to Dec. 1. I thought I had another week. Anyway I worked hard and finished enough projects to fill a table. We made enough money to cover the cost of the table. The problem was not the merchandise it was there was not traffic coming through the show.

Genes

2007-12-03T12:06:00.001-05:00

I’m told by my child that it’s obvious that I’m spelling challenged because I spelled challenged wrong. I said how am I supposed to correct it if the spell checker doesn’t’ catch it. She of course had no comment to that. It is something I freely admit, however she is not spelling challenged. She got the spelling gene from her dad, along with the math gene and the blue eyes...

Christmas Soap

2007-11-27T10:19:00.000-05:00

I got my self into a Christmas soap swap on a loop with other soap makers. My first attempt to make the soap was a total flop. My second attempt came out perfectly. I had a 5.5 lb block of soap sitting on my table and I needed to get 16 bars out of it. Each bar had to weight at least 4 oz, cake right? Not to a person with ADHD, sigh! I started cutting. It is beautiful, if feels wonderful, it smells good, now what if I cut this way instead of that way. Yea, that looks better. Ok, now I'll cut here. I ended up with 12 bars of soap. I trimmed 2 down now I have 14, but sigh I need 16. No I'm not showing you a picture of the soap swap stuff. It has to be a surprise to the other swapers.

Wild Rides

2007-11-24T10:43:00.001-05:00

Life is good! Everyone here is doing good. Tired. Very, very tired, but good. I've been working like a crazy person making stuff for Flaxsax and even Sa, So and the Teen have been able to earn some money cutting out fabric and other assorted jobs. Sa and So were so, so, so happy to be able to earn some extra money. The best part is I had money to spend yesterday. Oh, happy me! I had been waiting since August for JoAnn's sale on flannels for $1 per yard. I showed great restraint and only bought 50 yards. I did not show such great restraint at Kohl's. Ah, I love me. Today I'm going to a craft show with my mom.

Thanksgiving was really nice. We went to the inlaws house. It was just them and us but the table was set nice and the food was good. This is the first year I've not eaten desserts at Thanksgiving. Even the year mil made all the pies with splenda which I don't eat, I bought a bag of peanut m&m's.

I'm taking some new asthma meds called Foradil. I really like it. I think its the best thing I've tried so far. It works like 12 hour albuterol. I called the doc back and asked for a scrip. I've not heard back yet. He wanted me to keep taking Intal, but it is moving off the formulary list. This feels like it is a better match for my symptoms anyway.

Happy Anniversary

2007-11-21T08:09:00.000-05:00

Today is my 21st anniversary. Congratulations Honey now we are old enough to drink together. We met February 15th 1986 and got married that November. He is a blessing to my life.

I Got a Job

2007-11-21T08:06:00.000-05:00

Hello world I got a job. I am so happy!
I am now a seamstress for Flax Sax.
The little pillows are amazing and I am a part of it.

Cake and a Pizza Party

2007-11-19T22:16:00.001-05:00

These are the pictures from So's Birthday Party. As you can see some of the girls made heart shaped pizzas

Sunday Night

2007-11-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

Sophie had a birthday party today. It was very fun for all. One of the girls said "this is the most fun party craft EVER!" I was pretty impressed that she thought so. What was the craft? They made their own pizza's. Yes I took pictures, but they are still in the camera and the camera is across the room. You can however view these pictures. The tree out my kitchen window has been beautiful. Yes that is also the one directly out my side door (that we use all the time)and the one that I am HIGHLY allergic too.

Last week my Aunt came to visit for a short time. It was so sweet to see her again. Since she lives 1,000 miles away I only get to see her when she comes here.

Last weekend I went to a Birthday Party and these are the soap gift that I gave. I was really happy with how they came out. Especially considering the goofy way the printer was acting.

Last Thursday The Boy had to hand in his report on the honey bees. He got a 99%. I was so happy with how hard he worked on it. The only thing he lost a point on was he did not write "honey bee" on the card board.

Laundry Soap

2007-11-17T17:54:00.000-05:00

Well, as you can see I'm still working on the blog. I figured out how to get my links (widgets) into html. That way when when I want to change the blog around next time there will be no chance I'll loose everything. I've not had a chance to get them all done yet and I don't remember everything that I had a link too anyway.

My next project is Laundry soap. I found this recipe that sounds too easy. First you make soap with lard and zero% superfat. Than you shred it and mix equal parts soap, borax and washing soda. I can do this. I have everything and the cost per load is like 1 cent.

Again

2007-11-16T08:14:00.000-05:00

I lost my widgets a second time, but I like this layout and I think I can change it around a bit. My link lists are gone, but some of them were dead anyway. Now I can advertise stuff easily and I can easily link to other pages. I'm thinking of opening a soap making page or maybe a baking page. This page is wider than the last one. Anyway I'll keep playing with it. I just figured out the rich text editor on the HTML pages and it made my life easier.

3 Columns

2007-11-15T13:32:00.000-05:00

Well, I now have 3 columns. I lost all my widgets in the process and I think I'm going to choose an other format that is a little wider. Anyway I'm enjoying learning more about html. I'm going to put up ads for my favorite stuff.

Blogger and I are having Issues

2007-11-15T07:28:00.000-05:00

I want a 3 column blog. I've mentioned this in the past. The problem is that I can't seem to figure out how to get my widgets into a 3 column blog. I really don't want to loose all my content, nor do I want to make everyone change my link. When I do get the 3 column up I can't rearrange the widgets with out going into html. SIGH!

Cheese Straws

2007-11-13T12:04:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday I went to a party and I took cheese straws as a snack. They were wonderful. Sadly I did not take a picture of them standing up in the chocolate container that I used to serve them.

Saturday Morning Cookies

2007-11-10T10:44:00.000-05:00

I'm watching a child of mine make cookies. This cookie baking experience has been very amusing for me. The child making the cookies is very carefully measuring out the ingredients. They needed 3/4 of a cup of firmly packed brown sugar. It could not have been more packed if it wanted to be. Than, when the cup was not quite filled to the top I assured the child it was enough sugar anyway. The salt measuring was cute too. They needed 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt. A 1/4 measure was used but the salt was heaped up on the spoon. Now all the kids are tasting the batter to make sure it is good. I have the oven set to 350 degrees for my bread. Since the recipe says 375 for the cookies I told the child that just like the cookies would be fine with a not quite accurate sugar measurement or salt measurement it would also be fine with a not quite accurate oven temp.

Busy, Busier, Busiest

2007-11-07T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yes, well, I know I’ve not written much lately. I’ve been busy. More busy than I was last summer when I had the kids here all the time. I’m still looking for a job. I want something close by 2 mornings per week. Since The Teen takes my car to school I am driving the Green Bean so I won’t go far. What am I doing that is keeping me so busy? Besides cooking, cleaning, sewing, soap making, laundry, and other assorted stuff. I’m being very challenged by kid homework. I pick them up at 2:40 and on days when there’s no lesson, chorus, or other activates there’s hours of homework.

DH and I are taking the learn about being Catholic class each week. I am really enjoying it. I had no idea that the Catholic’s and Protestants shared so many similar beliefs. The people in the class are really nice.

I have a new friend Renee, today’s her birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY RENEE! She is having a birthday bash on Saturday that I am looking forward too.

The Teen went to youth group last night and sang loudly for a long time. She is glad to have a voice today. She said she saw my friend who reads my blog there. Hi Friend!

My skirt is almost finished. It really came out nice. Not quite as random as I wanted it too but I guess random means it comes out however it does. I’ll post pix of it soon. It really challenged my sewing skills.

AAAAKK! While I am not apposed to Amazon doing advertising on my site I did not link that kid homework book. I have linked other stuff and now I know what they mean by that email that said they just made it easier for me. UG!

Left Over Halloween

2007-11-01T08:37:00.000-04:00

I took apple bites to Sa's class for her party. I think my pumpkin turned pretty good.

Is it a Trick or a Treat

2007-10-31T09:06:00.001-04:00

The Cupcakes of Doom left my house this morning headed to The Teens school for a bake sale. I thought she did a fabulous job on them. The bat cake was also pretty spiffy.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-30T21:55:00.000-04:00

flu here, hurt

2007-10-27T17:53:00.000-04:00

I have flu. I hurt. WOW! I did not know it could be this bad.

Mushrooms

2007-10-25T22:14:00.001-04:00

We finally got some rain and the next day we had some beautiful fungus growing in the yard.

YEA!

2007-10-24T21:14:00.000-04:00

Yea, my potato head costume sold. I have listed another one for auction that ends in the morning.

Potato Head

2007-10-21T19:09:00.001-04:00

Potato Head Halloween Costume for sale on ebay. This is the bigger one I've got a smaller one too. The smaller one will fit a 2yo tyke to about an 8yo. The hat is NOT INCLUDED.

Deleted

2007-10-18T20:50:00.000-04:00

This post was deleted by the author.

Week Old Baby

2007-10-17T21:23:00.001-04:00

More Pix from the Trip

2007-10-16T06:30:00.001-04:00

Friends

2007-10-15T12:17:00.001-04:00

The kids had a 4 day weekend so I took them to visit my friend Proverbs 31 and her family. This is her husband taking some of the little kids for a ride. Sa had such a good time she wants to use her Christmas money to help get her back again.

Silly Little Boys!

2007-10-14T22:08:00.001-04:00

Sometimes you just have to be silly when you eat the ice cream. When that happens you say "hey, Mom, come take my picture.

Aggravation

2007-10-10T14:03:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned before that I am slightly housekeeping challenged? How about organizationally challenged? Today I was making soap. I made two batches, the first is goats milk, oatmeal and honey, the second batch was supposed to be hyacinth. Did you get that supposed? Yea, well, I went to reach for the hyacinth essential oil and found it was Sweet Orange. My beautiful purple swirl hyacinth soap became Sweet orange swirl soap. I'm shelving soap making until I get more flavors. Maybe next week I'll try again.

Nice Weekend

2007-10-08T08:32:00.000-04:00

I had a nice weekend. It went fast and was busy, but a lot got done around here. Dh and The Boy built some nice organizational stuff in the garage. Some of the bicycles don't have kick stands on them, so now they hang up easily.

The Teen and I played Munchkin, it is so funny!

Cub Scout popcorn is being stored in our basement. The pile is shrinking quickly.

My old washer has been hanging around here for a LONG time! Last night I put an ad in Craig's list and this morning I awoke to a response for it. Yea! More space!
On that note, Have you seen this new detergent? I know 'all' has been around for years, but this one is new. I had been using Tide only for HE, when someone said try this. I tried it and found it to be every bit as good as Tide for most things for a fraction of the cost.

Deb Saves the World

2007-10-06T11:13:00.000-04:00

My friend Deb has a blog. I am happy for her! She and her kids worked with my kids on the elephant project last year. You can read her thoughts here. Good luck with it Deb. Should I mention it can get addicting?

Walk A Thon

2007-10-06T11:07:00.000-04:00

UG! I feel like I got scammed and it was all my own fault. The kids school had a walk a thon. I pledged $1 per mile per kid. I owe the school $30. I never dreamed the kids would walk as far as they did. NEVER! I worked the day stamping the walking cards. Each half lap the kids got their cards stamped. That's how they kept track of how far they were walking. It was a very beautiful day and I did not take my camera. Many pictures were taken by other people. So walked 12 miles. It really was a fun day.

Soap and Stuff

2007-10-03T13:13:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was dress sports like at The Teens school. Did I mention she goes to a school that is for artists? Anyway she wanted her picture taken so I am posting it here. First she put on The Boy's shirt than she put her dad's Terry Tate shirt on top of it. Since the Tate shirt came down below her knees she did not wear it all day. We all laughed at how well The Boy's shirt fit her.

So is feeling better today, but Sa stayed home because of an upset stomach.

My first attempts at hot processed soap came out very well. I learned some things that I will do differently next time. I don't really understand how if you put ingredients into a crock pot add stirring and heat you can end up with something that the ingredients list does not even contain what you put into the crock pot.

This was a 4 pound batch of soap. I used the soap calc to figure out how much of what to put in. I was limited by how much of what ingredients I had on hand. Because of the car being broken and having to be dealt with and So being home not feeling good I got a later start on the soap than I had intended. Therefore I mixed the ingredients together before they were as cool as I had read they should be. I don't know what kind of change that may have made. I think this came out pretty impressive. Most of my bars are almost 4oz exactly. The balls are 3 oz. I've never made soap balls before. It was very easy the soap was so soft I just mushed it together. I used some of my cake dec color for the swirl. Next time I will wait until the soap is in the container before I add the swirl. I was not sure how much would fit in my container, so I added the swirl in while it was still in the crock, than I realized I had not done a good job of stirring in the fragrance so I over stirred the swirl.

Yea!

2007-10-02T12:41:00.000-04:00

I made hot processed soap today in my crock pot. It came out GREAT! I am very happy with me.

I tried to do a swirl in it, I think I over stired it. Anyway it is cooling now. Later tonight I will unwrap it and we can use it right away.

So is home sick today. She kindly stayed out of the kitchen while I was playing with my soap.

He Loves Me!

2007-10-02T05:08:00.001-04:00

Yesterday amid all the morning craziness something amazing, beautiful and fantastic happened. Just as all the kids were being shoved out the door my wonderful husband came back into the kitchen and handed me this. He just said "here" than quickly left hurdling some backpack laden kids to the car. I was much more than surprised. WOW! When the kiddo's came home my boy had a great time getting it out of the box, setting it up and doing a photo shoot. His pictures can be seen here.

On other notes, the green car died yesterday and hopefully will be reserected today. Thankfully it made it to the school parking lot before it refused to restart. I plan to make hot process soap today. I bought coconut oil at Walmart for $1.50 per pound. If I order 50 pounds I'll only save $0.30 per pound, so I think for a while this will work fine.

Any one want to sponsor some kids in a walk a thon? How about some pies for Thanksgiving or some fantastic pop corn?

Potato Head Jacket

2007-09-30T20:07:00.001-04:00

Today I almost finished this Potato Head jacket. I still plan to put pockets on the front. They will now require a little more thought because she suggested that I make them in the shape of hands.

School progress reports came out last Friday and everyone did really good.

So Much So Little

2007-09-28T06:08:00.000-04:00

So much blogging material so little time. This is my first batch of soap. I used coffee instead of water. The recipe said to use strong coffee. I thought I did. If I try it again it will be with something like double espresso. I don't even smell a hint of coffee in this soap. The second batch which you see below in the blender mess is still in the tube. I waited until my boy got home from school to help with it because he made it sound like he was missing so much and wanted to be a part of it. Than things were so busy after school and he said why did you wait for me I did not care so I never got around to the soap. I'll take it out of the tube after they leave for school. I am looking for a source for cheap coconut oil to use in my soap. Once I find it I think I will move on to bigger batches in a pot. I could triple this recipe and still have it fit in the tube. I like the round shapes. In the end I made half rounds out of the thicker pieces. This seemed to work out great.

My first 2 ebay auctions are over and I am working putting up more. Being spelling and grammar challenged plus not a fast typer slowing things down. The Teen has produced 2 pieces of origional art that I will be selling this week. That plus stuff I'm finding around our house.

Last night I made almost Salisbury steak for dinner. It came out great and everyone loved it. I actually did not follow the directions very well at all. I was helping someone with homework and doing 3 other things and I ended up leaving out the onions and garlic. So we called it Sals steak. They all said make it again. Since my grill has been out of gas for months I probably will make it again.

The cut finger has healed beautifully.

Do you want to buy some Thanksgiving pies? How about a Honey Baked Ham or popcorn? May be you would like to sponsor 3 kids in a walk a thon? We have 3 fund raisers going on here now. The Cub Scouts are selling popcorn the American Heritage girls are selling Pies, Coffees, and gift cards and Next Friday is the school walk a thon.

Soap

2007-09-26T15:45:00.000-04:00

Today I made soap. The recipes I used are here. First I made the coffee soap, than I made the fishermans soap. I used orange blossom EO in the fishermans soap. The soap is forming log shapes in 3" PVC tubes. The tubes are 2' high. Yesterday I went to Lowe's to buy some tubes and they wanted $7something for 1, 2' tube. They also wanted $7something for 1, 4' tube. I kept looking and around the corner they had 10' tubes for $8something. Guess which one I bought? I took my tube home and cut it into 3 pieces. The soap only went up about 8" in the tubes so the towel covering is well above the heat line. I was able to find test caps which covered the holes and allowed the tubes to stand flat. I duct taped the bottoms. Both recipes were made in the blender and I meant to take pictures of the process but, well, it just did not happen. Happily my good friend MSV called me just as I was measuring out the oils for the first batch and she wanted to come over and use the serger. She was able to come right away and so was with me as I poured my lye into liquid for the first time than mixed it into oil.

Getting Ready for Soap

2007-09-25T14:24:00.000-04:00

I have been so busy. I’m bouncing for a quick post. I am very excited because I am about to make my first batch of blender soap. I bought PVC pipe to use as a mold. I went to Lowe’s and they wanted almost the same price for a 2’ piece of PVC as for a 10’ piece. Guess which one I bought. It was really easy to cut and now I have 2, 2’ pieces and an 8’ piece. I was going to cut the top off to make an opened toped tube when laid on its side but first I’m going to try it round. The only thing I need now is distilled water. Our water here is VERY HARD. I stopped at the library today for some books on soap making that I am looking forward to reading. Also I will post the links to the really cool soap stuff I’ve found. Today I plan to make coffee soap.

Soso's Flutiness

2007-09-24T08:21:00.001-04:00

Wow these videos are really dark. I'll have to work on a second try.

Teenage Piano Play

2007-09-23T20:53:00.000-04:00

Teen Guitar Playing

2007-09-23T20:00:00.000-04:00

Comming Soon To a Blog Near You...

2007-09-22T22:54:00.000-04:00

I am working on some video clips of the kids playing their instruments.

Disappearance

2007-09-18T08:43:00.000-04:00

So I've been hiding for a week now. Not really! What I've been doing is running around almost like a crazy person, oh, wait I am a crazy person. OK, What I've been doing is running around.

I've worked out a pattern for some really cool super hero pointy fingerless gloves for my boy. I wanted to take a picture of him wearing them so I could offer some for sale, but between handing them off and saying "oh, hey I want a picture" they were lost. He's now found 1, but I have the pattern I just have not had time to make another pair. The injured finger is doing great.

I changed family doctors and now that all the kids have 'met' him I finally scheduled my 'meet the Dr. appointment' He thought I was kidding when I said at the last kid appointment next week you will get to see me and find out where all the craziness comes from, "hee, hee, snort, muffled giggle." After about 30 minutes of going over my medical history stuff he turns to me and says "you have a very interesting medical history, thats not always a good thing. I reminded him of the conversation last week. Anyway he gave me this asthma medicine called Intal it appears to be an older asthma drug that is not so available anymore and there is no generic made. The taste is DREADFUL! and I must use it 4 times a day. It may take up to 6 weeks to experience the full effect of it. If this doesn't solve some of the problems I've been having he offered other things to try instead of what I've been doing which is using albuterol 8 to 10 times a day. I also just started taking singulair which is making me thirsty (a good thing) and helping with the allergy headache.

Last Saturday we went to the Celtic Festival. I/we had such a good time. We got to see Sa's harp teacher preform and it was stellar! We watched some really fun Irish dancing, ate some great food and saw some friends.