All over the place

Edward turned 2 months old on Tuesday, which is also when this picture was taken. His concerned look is starting to be less common and he is smiling much more often.

The title to this post is because I have a lot to talk about, but nothing is really related, so it's sort of discombobulated.

For the first time in my married life we had a visit by an ambulance to our house this past week. One of the joys of living in our lovely little trailer is that every once in awhile I get shocked by the stove when working in the kitchen if I'm not careful. On Sunday I was doing some dishes, I had my left hand in the dish water, and at the same time I noticed some pots on the stovetop that were close to the edge. So with my right hand I reached over to push them farther on to the stovetop, and I got a shock. The worst of it was to my left hand that was submerged in the water. I figured I would be fine in a few minutes like usual and kept doing what I was doing. But my hand was feeling weak and tingly and all up my arm was sore. I looked at my hand and watched the blood vessels start to pop out and my skin looked pale but with red splotches. I waited about 5-10 minutes to see if it would fade away and when it didn't I started looking things up on the internet. All I could find information for was more severe cases, or mild shocks like the ones I'd usually get. So I called the consulting nurse and she said as long as I wasn't having any chest pain that I was probably ok. I said that I didn't have pain, but a fluttery feeling in my chest. She told me to get off the phone and call 911. Mike wasn't home so I called my parents first so they could come stay with the kids in case I had to go to the hospital. I was pretty calm the whole time until I called my parents...something about calling your mommy and daddy for help...I started bawling when they answered the phone and I'm sure I freaked them out pretty good because they beat the ambulance! But when I got off the phone with them, I was all calm again! I told the kids that some people were coming to check on me and not to be worried. It was so funny because the whole time they never stopped what they were doing, like nothing was out of the ordinary. The EMTs came, took my blood pressure which was 160 over something (high for me, it's usually around 100 over something), but they thought that I was probably fine and that going to the hospital would be overkill. I opted to stay, and that was it! By the morning my hand was completely normal.

In my last post I was complaining about the snow and worried that it would cause problems for paper route. Well for a snowy route day, it was the very best kind. By the time I got started it wasn't exactly slushy, but wet enough that when I drove through it it just splattered out of the way, but it wasn't slippery. So I took it as an opportunity to carve out a path for myself for Saturday morning in case what remained froze over and became ice. So I'm thankful for that.

I've mentioned before Colette's attention to fashion. She worked really hard on this ensemble. I think that it's basically a combination of a lot of her favorite pieces. You may remember the hat from a previous post.

Last night my friend Sarah helped me with a little project I was assigned by my dad and Mike, to paint the basement walls with sealer. A girl from church was watching my kids because Mike was at work. When I came to pick them up Colette was all over their dog. I was surprised because she and Adrienne have always been afraid of cats and dogs. They said that Colette was scared at first, but then after she was around him a little bit she said "He didn't bite me!" So then she was hugging him, kissing him, laying on him, etc. It was so cute because he was much bigger than her (he's a yellow lab). He seemed like such a sweet dog, so docile and good with kids. Sometimes when the kids were obviously annoying him he'd lift up his paw and half-heartedly swat at them, but he really didn't seem to mind. I would love to have a dog or cat, but as I've mentioned many times before, I'm allergic, and I left their house itching :-/ I carry allergy medicine that I can take without water in my wallet for those occasions when I end up at someone's house not realizing they have a cat or dog.

I thought by now I'd be in the clear for any infections arising from adjusting to nursing a new baby, but not so! I have developed a case of mastitis and am on antibiotics. Because of that I'd been taking it easy today and spaced out on the fact that today was early release. Adrienne came waltzing in the door and I was so surprised! I couldn't figure out why she was home early, and how she got here! Apparently the bus driver had been honking at the bottom of the driveway and my dad who was working on the house outside heard and walked down. He's on the list of people that can pick her up, so he walked her up the driveway. (P.S. to any of Mike's siblings that might read this - Adrienne's bus driver is your former bus driver Char!) Ugh, that's been my worst fear all year, that I'd forget about an early release day. As it is I have to set an alarm on my phone to remind me that it's time to pick her up or I'd space it on a daily basis. I've told a few people - ever since I've had Edward I've felt like one of those plate spinners - just trying to keep everything going all at once. I have to remind myself that it's only been two months now and at this point after having Adrienne I was just starting to come out of the fog!

So, I spent my down-time very productively as you can see below. Somehow I came upon this site. Sort of the same idea as that other one I'd abused recently. You can take a picture of yourself and morph with a celebrity. I found it interesting because I'd been told I looked like different celebrities, so I could see just how closely we matched up. Also I tried some of the people that the same site that did the look-alike meter said I resembled. I was surprised with some of the results because some of the people I thought I would resemble more closely I didn't, and some I resembled that I really didn't expect! I thought I'd put in the top ones that morphed well with the picture of me:

1st, Me and Alicia Silverstone


Me and Jennifer Aniston


And lastly, Me and Ali Landry


You don't even want to know how many more of these I did!

I'm a little bummed because I had an appointment to give blood tomorrow morning, but I don't think that's a good idea now that I'm recently sick. I'll just have to keep trying! I feel obligated to do it as often as I can because I can give to everyone, and also when you answer the questionnaire they give you, you realize how so many people can't give at all because of different circumstances in their life (like travel, sex related, drug related).

The progress on the house is coming along this week. The sheetrockers textured the walls early this week. Mike's spraying on the primer, and soon the paint (we've picked Vanilla Custard for the main color :-) The cabinets have been delivered, the framing in the basement is starting, and the cement in the shop and garage will likely be poured tomorrow! I am so excited to see it painted and cabinets going in! Then I'll be really really excited to see carpet! I don't know when that will be, but I would think in the next few weeks. It's so weird because I've been thinking about moving into the new place, but it hadn't really registered that this place we've called home for 7 1/2 years now is very soon going to be demolished! It's been a love-hate relationship, because it is so small, run-down, ugly, etc. But it's served us well...we bought it right before we were married so we've never had to pay rent, and our whole married life up until now has been here! Well...I'm sure I'll get over it pretty quickly!

Mike's mom came across this picture recently that I thought was so cute and so typical of Mike. Those legs belong to Mike and his friend Keith working on a Corvair. Proof that their love of those cars goes WAY back! Mike is a year older, but the legs that belong to him are the smaller pair ;-)

Here they are all growed up:

Looking at that picture of Mike I can really see how he's lost weight during the construction of the house. His face and tummy are so much thinner!







Okay, well to end this very random post, here's a book recommendation. It's called Rattlebone Rock...This is a book Adrienne checked out at school and it is so fun to read! I HIGHLY recommend getting it, and don't wait until Halloween! It's fun anytime.