S be nimble, S be quick

S jumps over boogie board.

Poison, part 3

Today I had my 3rd exposure to toxins at work. This time I was so sick, I went to the workman's comp doctor. This time the workers opened Kem Bond on the roof, right next to the intake duct and the whole building was toxic. Strange that there was no communication or evacuation. There were 3 floors of sick people and building services couldn't clear the air fast enough. I tried to stay at work, but I was so dizzy that I found it hard to walk. Had I known how annoying the workman's comp center was, I never would have gone. The upside? I am not allowed back at work until I get a follow up visit tomorrow. I should have scheduled a later appointment!

Summer!!!

It's been a busy summer, although summer just started last week. S has been out of school for a month. He enjoyed his first week alone at kung fu. He woke up early every morning, threw his lunch together, packed his backpack, and ate breakfast without needing a reminder. Amazing. Trinks just finished her first week of overnight camp. She loved it. She rode horses for three days and did camp activities the rest of the time. The tie dye class was closed, so she tried the low ropes. She swam. There was a slip and slide. One night there were s'mores. She came home exhausted but happy. I mentioned her next Girl Scout session was day camp and she started crying because she wants to go overnight again. I reminded her that the following week was the Decadent Dessert camp. She'll stay in a cabin and bake all week.

The kids are leaving for a week in Massachusetts with their cousins and grandparents. Pray for my mother. She has three on medication (Trinks is yellow level asthma from camp and my neice and nephew are on nebulizers), S has the epi pen in case of accidental allergic contact, and the 5th child is recovering from a double break in his upper arm. They plan to hike a lot, and find a ton of interesting places to explore. We'll pick them up at the Dinosaur State Park in CT in a week. We're headed to Rhode Island. Trinks will celebrate her 9th birthday while we're there. I can't believe how fast she's growing up!!! I just found out that the Mumbles will be in RI while we're there, so we'll be at their show on her birthday. She is so excited.

Hubs and I are hanging on for rough ride this summer. Hubs has an extremely inflexible schedule, so I will spend most of the summer schlepping the kids around. The high point is going to Girl Scout camp. It is so beautiful down there! If I move, I will move to the Cecilton area. It looks like NJ used to before the New Yorkers moved in and destroyed the state. Trinks has already objected to that idea, but I'll keep it in the back of my mind.

June accomplishments

June is way busier than December. We made it to the Greek Festival this year - go us! Trinks made honor roll - major accomplishment.



S earned his purple gold belt and performed in the graduation ceremony. Trinks earned her blue purple sash, but skipped the graduation ceremony to attend the Junior Achievement Girls Scout overnight. It was an amazing trip where she got a job and learned how to manage money. See what I mean by busy?


Today S had his Tumblebus recital. It was pretty cool to see him showing off his skills. We'll miss the bus next year!


Trinks flew up to Juniors in an amazing ceremony during the year end banquet. The ceremony for the 63 girls (Brownies, Juniors and Cadets) moved at a nice pace. I loved watching the girls cross the bridge, pausing in the middle to make a wish. Once dinner was done, the DJ took song requests and the girls danced their hearts out. I have a ton of sewing to do - she got all the badges she earned this year today. AWESOME!

You're arms ain't broke

S got the shock of his life. He realized he had to make his own lunch for camp. He looked up at me and asked me to make his lunch for him. I responded - you're arms ain't broke!! He's not as independent as Trinks and is a little reluctant to try new things. The problem is, once we finally get him to try new things, he loves them. So he and Trinks stood side by side and churned out 5 sandwiches each. For the last two days, they've been putting their snacks with the sandwich and filling their water bottles. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for the rest of the summer.

Now if we can get him to clean the litter boxes while Trinks is away.....

To school or not to school

I have an awesome opportunity to take classes for a tax certification in the fall. I know - YAWN! I have to front the cash, but I will be reimbursed. The cool thing is the school comes to us. One of the sort of local universities in PA is coming to our BFC. Based on how the courses are set up, it will take 2 years to complete. My two questions are: will I get additional money when I complete the course and how long do I have to stay at the BFC after I complete the certification? The last certification I earned resulted in no extra money, so I have no hope for this one. I know how much I am worth on the open market, so I just need to know how long I have to stay. Barring any crazy issues, it looks like I am going back to school.

Things I learned spending 3 days at home

I am in the middle of my third and final bereavement day for my grandmother. Day one was spent in NJ at the brief, but very nice funeral. After the luncheon, was shopping and the miserable eye appointment - still waiting for my new glasses. Not being allowed to wear contacts is just plain pissing me off. I am missing a nose piece and I fear I will have a permanent scar where the metal is scraping my nose. Yesterday I decluttered a bit - very therapeutic and cheaper than renting a dumpster and throwing out everything except the furniture and my toothbrush. I also found a funny as hell blog about a father raising 6 kids. I laughed out loud more times than I could count. So what did I learn by spending this much time at home?

1. Netflix through the Wii is freaking awesome. I can sit here and load my instant watch queue and it really is on instantly. We've been doing this for a while, but having this much time off at a time, it's been fun to run through the first 2 seasons of Waiting For God. Hilarious.

2. The secret to creating the best spreadable butter ever is to use less olive oil than butter. I also used regular olive oil because the extra virgin olive oil turns the spread green. And I'm sure you want to know why I make my own spreadable butter. It's not about cost. I just hate chemicals and the Country Crocks, etc are chock full of them. I don't use butter often, so I would like a quality product when I do indulge.

3. If I stayed home, I would eat junk food all the time. Yesterday I indulged in donuts and combos. I tried to drink Dunkin Donuts coffee, but stubborn me tried to carry all 5 bags from the car at the same time. Let's just say the kitchen floor is super clean now. I have recovered from the horrific food yesterday and my body appreciates the greens. At least tomorrow I have to plan out my food and only carry what I will eat.

4. Housework really doesn't take as much time as I think it does. It really only takes 2 minutes or less to unload the dishwasher. It took 10 minutes to clean out the fridge, including rinsing out the containers to be recycled. I am getting ready to vacuum the stairs and upstairs hallway on the way to take my 2nd dose of antibiotics. I'll be done in about 5-7 minutes. It's taken me all this time for Flylady's lessons to sink in.

5. I can't be home and not want to do laundry. Problem? There is no laundry to be done. I know - wtf?????

6. Cats are super lazy.

7. The iPod is the greatest invention in the world.

So those are some of my lessons learned this week.

I look like a monster

And I feel like one, too! After my grandmother's funeral yesterday, I took Trinks shopping for little favors she can give to her cousins when we celebrate her birthday on vacation. She had a blast and we have a bunch of stuff waiting to be sorted and organized. Then it was time for my routine, long over due eye appointment. I thought it would the standard get new contacts visit. Um.... no.

I have an eye infection. Perhaps it's from wearing the 1 month disposable lens for a year. Jury's out, but perhaps that's the answer. Now I have to medicate my eyes hourly and dose them with antibiotics 4 times a day. If I am very good and proper, I can get fitted for new contacts on Friday. Sigh. I'm getting new glasses, too. I finally managed to figure out how to get insurance to pay for BOTH in the same year, and I am feeling rather proud of myself.

So if you find yourself on the roads in Delaware, look out! I am driving in my glasses and may not see you.

Itchy and Bitchy were in a boat

No one fell out, who was left? Yes, both itchy AND bitchy reside in me today. The poison ivy has turned into a secondary infection called erythema multiforme (EM) again. While I can get the poison ivy under control, the EM is itching like I have never experienced. Coupled with the fact that the ceiling fan over our bed is broken and heat makes me itch more, the fun factor explodes. I woke up at 3:30, brought my pillows downstairs, exchanged a most likey inappropriately angry conversation with hubs, and threw the AC switch to stun. I slept on the pull out with a bag of frozen veggies cooling off my core temperature.

The kids woke up at 8:30 and were stunned to see me sleeping downstairs. I don't get sick very often, so they were concerned. Trinks offered to make me breakfast in bed and threw some bread in the toaster. While it cooked, she and S painted me a picture, made a card and created a song. Trinks' card made me cry - "Get Well SOON! I can see how much posin ivy did to you but secondary must hurt worst. We all hope you get well soon. We're sorry you are so ichy and it really sucks to stay in bed on weekends. We love you." How sweet is that? Then the toast popped up and S put sunflower butter and apricot jam on it. I just had to get up to make coffee.

So I am still in bed - researching causes, remedies, and anything else I can find. I took some generic zyrtec since it usually works for urticaria. When I am on my feet, it feels like I'm walking on burning marbles. I think that's the worst part - the lumps that form on the palms of the hands and feet. You can't itch those! I sent hubs with the kids to see a play in Philly and I loaded the instant queue in Netflix with movies and TV shows I want to watch. I watched Confessions of a Shopaholic, and am now catching up on Waiting for God - one of my all time favorite Brit Sits. It's a completely wasted day, but I can't summon the energy to do much.

S says the craziest things.....

He was watching his cousin play with a hacky sack and mentioned he wanted his own "happy sack".

Trinks came down in a skort. S complained that she was wearing HIS skirt. It's the one he borrowed when they decided to belly dance. I love his open mind.

Poison Ivy update

I've been doing really well with the poison ivy this time. Yes - it's annoying, it itches every once in a while, but I get relief for 95% of the time. This exposure was more than the last time and would normally put me in the hospital on steroids, prescription benadryl and generic zantac (histamine 2 blocker). That gave me relief for 40% of the time. The Hylands Poison Ivy/Poison Oak is amazingly effective. This time I added some Burdock, Quercetin and a ton of vitamin C. Next week I am going to experiment with Bentonite Clay. I now feel in control of my life and will no longer live in fear of getting poisoned. I managed to rip out the remaining poison ivy from the flower beds. All that remains is the stuff behind the shed. I plan to just poison the stuff and leave it alone. Just need to mix up a big batch of "earth begone" and the soil will be sterile forever.

S graduated

And then made a wish...


That his teeth would be yellow.

Mythbusters - Posey's poison ivy edition

So I have poison ivy again. It's on my hands, it's all over my arms, it's all over my legs, it's on my back and neck. Normally I would freak, but I know I can get relief from the homeopathic stuff. In order to have a little fun, I decided to try Burdock Root as my cure. If I don't get relief by Saturday, I will go to the rhus tox. Can't hurt to know another cure and I might as well make the best of it. I plan to hit the ground running this weekend to get more of it out. I might as well be completely miserable and never have to worry about the poison ivy in the yard again.

Pictures from the food allergy walk

There were educational signs all over the place.


I asked S to get a hat. He decided this was just as good.


Notice the shoes S chose, AND NO ONE NOTICED UNTIL WE WERE ALMOST READY TO WALK. And his sister tied them for him. Not only are they the same foot, but the one on the left is TRINKS' shoe.

When in Brazil, don't eat the nuts

Yesterday Hubs and I took the kids to the allergist in Philly. It was a pretty good visit. S got further nut testing, resulting in discovering a Brazil nut allergy. We opted not to get tested for peanut allergies. Since he eats peanut butter with no reaction, he should be fine. There is a 40% chance of a false positive with the test, so I'd rather just watch for symptoms. We have an epi pen, so I'm not too worried. He has grown 3 inches and gained enough weight to be too big for the epi-pen junior. For school's sake, he's allergic to all nuts. Cross contamination is a huge risk, so if he goes for an almond that brushed up against a cashew, pistachio, or a Brazil nut, he'll have a reaction. School is allegedly a nut free zone, but I don't believe it. Parents don't understand that one simple food can simply kill another child.

Trinks needed no further allergy testing and can come off her daily asthma meds. I don't like daily meds for her type of asthma and I've been itching to discontinue it. If it was me, I would have simply stopped, but I tend to require doctor's supervision before I act medically for my kids. We have a new asthma plan, and it's similar to mine. Phew!

So today we walked for food allergy awareness. I was happy to see lots of educational materials and samples. I picked up the new epi pen tester and some epi-pen paraphernalia. I picked up 2 dvds about epi-pens (one's for you, NJ teacher)and a pamphlet about knowing the risks. I signed up for a meeting at the local library for food allergy support. I skipped the samples of soy butter because I currently believe that soy in the processed form is evil (that is another blog post and watch Food Inc. to see why the soy seed company is very very evil). I did snag some free samples of the sunflower butter. I used to buy this and forgot all about it. I didn't tell S what it was and he really liked it. Trinks loved it as well, so I can keep some on hand.

SO I've learned it's all about knowing what goes into the food you eat. And I'm learning to act on what I really do know - processed food is really bad, whether you have allergies or not. If I can't pronounce the ingredients, or if they go on over an inch, I don't want to eat it. Chemicals aren't food.

So not a cake wreck

This was the coolest baby shower cake I have ever seen. Not sure what to call everyone, so post to take credit. It was also delicious.

THAT'S why the bed is too small

S complains ALL THE TIME about how he has the smallest bed in the house. Imagine what he could build in a bigger bed.

New glasses

The day finally came. I expected this last year, but Trinks has really taken care of her glasses, at least in the sense that they are in one piece. Dirty and scratched? absolutely. They broke this weekend and were held together with duct tape until today when the tape gave way. I was out so hubs took both kids to the mall to get a new pair of glasses. Turns out insurance sucks and they won't pay for glasses this year. Ugh. So on that note, we cancelled her eye appointment in June. I'll take that appointment and take S for his first appointment.

Thursdays with Grandma

After college, I found myself at loose ends.I moved back home and started working at my high school job and started taking graduate classes. I worked weekends, but I had Thursdays off. Thursdays turned into Grandma days. Some days we would go to Turkey Swamp Park with a picnic. Other times we would drive to the beach and walk on the boardwalk. Still other times were plain and boring - I would drive Grandma's car, fill it up with gas and go to the farmer's market. We would go out for a nice lunch and talk and talk and talk. I love hanging out with her and hearing her stories. She was always interested in what I was doing, and never, ever asked when I was getting a real job Thursdays were a lot of fun.

My grandmother died today. She was 93 and had suffered with Alzheimers for years. The first time she didn't know who I was devastated me. I don't think I stopped crying for a week. Just about a week ago, I went to visit her the day before her birthday. She slept through the last several visits I had with her, so I didn't hope for much. I arrived as she was out for some sun on the beautiful spring afternoon. She knew who I was! She proved that when I tried to convince her I was her favorite grandchild. She looked me in the eye and glared the Grandma glare at me. She told me twice that she loved me, and we watched the birds and spring flowers together. She held my hand and kept telling me she couldn't talk much. For an hour, I had my Grandma back. It was such a wonderful gift.

I will miss my grandmother. She was a steady influence in my childhood. I can't remember a time when I didn't see her at least every week. She could bake bread better than anyone I ever met. Her muffins were legendary. She would walk to the market almost daily to get dinner. On special occasions, she would walk us to Jamesway to eat in their restaurant. She was stubborn. She was smart. She was an army nurse who took crap from no one. I loved her dearly and can't really believe she's gone.