Miss Sunday = Sick by Tuesday?

This is only a minor exaggeration. Not ALL of us were sick by Tuesday. Kat was, though. And then Ria got it Wednesday. Jess had a tummy ache Wednesday night. (While Jess has been sick a bit more than usual since Tea was born, he normally doesn't even GET a tummy ache!) I woke up SUPER early today (Thursday) with some sort of run-to-the-bathroom-think-I'm-gunna-puke stuff. So, while it may not, in reality, be a one to one sort of thing, it sure feels like it!

Although I didn't say it specifically, it is true that we did miss church this past Sunday. The reason? My sleep issues and Jess just not wanting toget up and go. I actually could NOT sleep at ALL until it was time to get up and get ready for church! :( Now, I'm sort of used to "sleeping" for 1-3 hours before church because of mysort of standard sleep issues, "new" baby in our house, being on a cruddy schedule for the 3 months before Tea was born (working from 9pm until 3-5am), and hormones. All of which have been making a "normal" sleep schedule unlikely, if not impossible for the last 4+ months.

In my opinion, the worst Sundays to miss in the year = the Sunday right before Stake Conference, the one before General Conference, and any Sunday on which you've specifically been asked to DO something (like give a talk). And what do I do? Two out of three. Usually when I say that I'm thinking, "two outta three ain't bad," but in this case it IS and I STILL feel bad. This coming Sunday is Stake Conference (lovely 1 hour drive each way) AND last Sunday I was supposed to give a 2-3 minute talk for a baptism.

So, why didn't I just go to church on no sleep? Well, I almost did. But, you see, I have problems enough with "seeing" things. You know, like you see a face in the different colors on some tile. Please tell me you know what I mean! Well, I regularly "see" things inthat way like in the popcorn on the ceiling (you know the sticky-outty stuff made by the way they finished the ceiling), our floor tiles, the concrete outside, spilled milk or other foods, and elsewhere. It's MUCH worse when I'm tired. There was this one day I'd only slept a couple of hours before driving to AND from the temple (Jess was too tired). We had to stop at a gas station for something or other. When Jess came back to the van I asked him if he saw ____ talking to each other. I don't remember what was in the blank, faces maybe? Jess looked at me like I'd lost a few marbles between his departure and arrival and then told me he would drive. I clarified that I was referring to faces(?) in the concrete and he made me give up my seat. So, trying to function on less than 2 hours of sleep is not a wise move for me at this "late" stage in my life. I'm ONLY 33!!!

It's hard for me to imagine that I used to stay up for 3 days in a row and still feel IN my head!!! I think, though, that the hormones constantly coursing through my system (extra, I mean) since I got preggie with Ria almost 6 years ago could play a part! What do YOU think? Am I just a bit nuttier than most or effected by sleep deprivation in a rather normal way? I'm sure you can guess which I think (the latter NOT the former), but I'd like to know what YOU think (of me). ^_^

Thursday and Friday, thus far

Thursday Morning
We totally missed story time because I was too wiped out to walk over there and spend time in the sun. The girls didn't realize it, though, so at least it wasn't a huge disappointment for them. Jess went to bring back the videos we borrowed (one week limit) last Thursday and came home with the activity and surprise from Ruth, our AWESOME librarian! They did stories on dinosaurs, made a stegosaurus, and received a dino egg (a towel in an egg that opens up in water) as a surprise. So Ria is now very keen to learn more about dinosaurs. I'm excited to have a topic of study that she's interested in and curious about that is pretty specific! ^_^

Jess finished the yard work for my Visiting Teaching. That's some food/gas money that we wouldn't otherwise have. YEAY hubby!!! ^_^ He was totally wiped out after the outdoor work. He loves to work outside, but it definitely drains a person to be in the sun - especially when one is not used to it. So, he had a short bit of nap prior to leaving for work.

Thursday Evening
My walk was cut 20 minutes short by rain. It wasn't hard rain, but it was steady enough that after walking in it for about 15 minutes I was pretty near soaked. What a bummer! But at least I got 40 minutes in for the day.

The girls were both really rough today. I yelled. :( It was a difficult evening.

I actually went to bed with the lights out and everything before Jess got home. I wasn't asleep, unfortunately. Even when he came to bed about 45 minutes later I was still lying there tired as all heck and unable to sleep! It's the belly... it's definitely the size of a 35 week belly with all the discomfort that comes with that unwieldy size. I ended up on the couch about an hour later just because I would be able to prop myself up in such a way as to be able to rest enough to MAYBE fall asleep (I hoped). I was right, THANKFULLY, and finally got to sleep around 1am. That's after going to bed (in hopes of sleeping) at 10:30pm!!!!!!!! ARGH! So, I'm going to try for "early" bed time again tonight and see how it goes. We'll see.

Friday Morning
Jess got up with the girls since they went to our bedroom and I wasn't there. I was totally going to get off the couch to deal with them, but when he came out he told me to go back to bed. I was way too tired to argue, so I did. But when I saw the clock I headed for the shower because I thought we needed to leave in 30 minutes for our Primary Activity Day. After my shower, as I was trying to rush the girls to eat their breakfast, Jess informed me that the clock in our room was an hour fast! So... he sent me back to bed. Even that 45 minutes made a BIG difference!

Activity Day was a blast! The kids had SUCH a good time (and I'm not JUST talking about mine). Kitty Kat's favorite station was the water balloon slingshot! She got to sling at least 5 balloons and 2 or 3 on her own! ^_^ She was just so tickled with that!!! (It was my favorite, too, actually!)

Ria was with a group of older girls. Her favorite is Keeli. Keeli really seems to like Ria, too, which is fun to observe. I love that Ria seems drawn to some of the sweetest of the older girls. I hope this is a sign that she is a good judge of character! ^_^

Our new chorister commented about Ria's reading ability to me today. She was very impressed and asked if I planned to homeschool all the way through. She doesn't have children of her own, yet, but she also wasn't totally judgmental or opinionated about it, which was refreshing! She actually said that the plan I told her I have agreed to with Ria sounded pretty neat. You see, Ria is set on going to Public School. So, we have made an agreement that when she is finished with her "Diploma" work she can go to high school. I figure the youngest she'll likely have it completed is 14 and I think that would be workable. By then I would probably try to convince her to take Community College courses or work to make money doing something or other, but it will be her choice at that point. She'll be able to do Advanced classes and test out of college courses... I just hate the idea of her in the "high school" environment. ahwell... time will tell!

Home
When we came home Jess got to work on the tire for the van. It's had a slow leak for a while, but it was getting faster. I was super impressed at how quickly he went from one activity to another. What a guy!!! :) He had that finished in time to get ready for work and headed off for THAT in plenty of time. I'm so super impressed.

Oh, and he returned a call and has an interview for a morning Sushi Chef job!!! I'm so excited (even though it's in Palm Coast, which means a $2 fee each day to get to the Club) because he'd get to work in a Japanese restaurant, which he has LOVED! I hope it will work out that he can take it... enough $ offered and all. Pray for us, if you think of it! :)

Still More
And the day is still young. Not much has happened thus far this afternoon and I rather hope it will be NICE and QUIET. :) I could use the peace. Ya know? But who can tell with a toddler and a youngster. ^_^

Death In The Family
Okay, to this may be a little bit of hyperbole... but given that I don't have terribly many pants OR shoes that I can comfortably wear (ESPECIALLY NOW!) it feels pretty tragic to me. WHAT??!! You want to know. Well, if you recall I had to retire my favorite exercise shoes (a gift from my Parents as of last summer) because one of them had an actual hole in the sole and the other was near to having a hole. Well, my favorite pair of exercise pants has small holes between the legs... not in the crotch, but where my legs rub together. Oh, you might think this is wonderful news because the holes indicate some shrinkage of thigh-age... true enough, and I should be pleased. But these pants are still comfy over my BIG belly... they are light weight, so don't feel like a damp towel when I'm at the end of my walk... and THEY'RE COMFY! Additionally, they were a VERY sweet gift from Jess. I believe he gave me these pants as a part of a Victoria's Secret pajama set when I got home from Australia because he was worried about me being cold in his (our) home! ^_^ I know they are just pants... and I normally do not get all weird about physical accouterments... but this just feels SAD! ahwell... I'll hopefully be able to get a couple more days out of them, at least.

Ria Is 4!

Can you believe I have a four year old? It's hard for me to believe it's been so long, yet not. She had a really wonderful birthday, thanks to lots of calls from family and many Happy Birthday wishes. She even heard a few folks sing the birthday song just for her! It was really sweet and she has A BIG smile on her face as she listened.

We are carrying over a tradition my Mom started with her own children. She gave us our choice of dinners for our birthday. Ria chose enchiladas. Now, these are not Mexican-style, they are cajun... and my own personal favorite, by the way. :) She has very good taste, my daughter. They entree takes quite a while to prepare and Jess had to purchase a few of the ingredients FOR the dinner AND cake/icing, plus he still had to work that evening, so yesterday morning was a bit busy to say the least. I was only able to prep a few things, so once he and Ria got home from grocery shopping (their special "date") we were very busy for a few hours. But we were able to enjoy a family lunch for Ria's birthday and it was really lovely! She was so very pleased with everything for her and still smiles SO big when Daddy comments on her new age. She is so very pleased to be 4!

I'm ever so slowly getting things rolling for my newest venture into online selling on ETSY. I'm very excited about it and very hopeful, still. Since being back online, I've been able to reconnect with a friend from Australia and found out that she is a seller on ETSY! What a small world, eh? So funny... and exciting! My seller name is going to be Torimade and I've actually joined under that, so it sort of exits, but I haven't posted anything for sale. Like I said, I'm going very slowly. Ria got me back into working on angels and my other clay creations because she really wanted to make an angel for her birthday. So, we did that for family home evening last night and talked while we worked. Then she wanted to get right back into it this morning first thing. So, as a result, I've got 3 angels made and a baby picture frame almost finished. The picture frame is pretty new for me. The first one I made I gave as a wedding gift to Evelyn Pieper just this last summer. I was pretty please with it, but I don't know if it's a kind of thing others will buy. We shall see, right?

Now, I don't know if I would like to live in a small town that was isolated from others by time and space, but I do have to say that I have learned some nice perks of living in a small town. For instance, our librarian knows us by name and knows our routine for visiting our little library in town. Last week was THE worst for our icky stuff illness and we totally missed both of out library trips (skipped the crochet teaching night and story time). Friday, the day after story time, Ruth called to check on us! Can you believe it? I was so touched. I finally called back today (library is closed Sunday and Monday) and thanked her for the call and let her know we HAD been sick and appologized for having items out late. She told me not to worry about it at all and let me know she had renewed everything because she'd figured something had come up to keep me away. Isn't that the coolest? Well, I thought it was pretty awesome, myself.

We are still fighting the lingering effects of the CRUD we've had. Our sleep schedule is totally out of whack, to boot! UGH. We girls ended up taking a THREE hour nap this afternoon, which is totally unusual under normal circumstances. As a result we woke up right before SEVEN PM! BLAH! *sigh* But, we are slowly improving. The snotties are slowly clearing and maybe diminishing. The girls still wake in the night coughing a bit, but I think it's less often now (maybe... hopefully!).

I'm afraid Jess might be catching the funky junk we've had. He was up coughing a lot last night. If you would, send a prayer that he stays strong and healthy. It's a hard thing being an hourly worker and the sole breadwinner!

We are not happy about a change approaching for Jessie's morning job (The Almond Blossom Cafe). The owner is planning to join her establishment to a gym in The European Village. There are MANY reasons we are unhappy about this change. For one, the new location is quite a distance from us. If Jess were to continue working there, he would have to drive an additional 24 miles each day, plus pay a toll every day to get to his night job, AND not be able to come home between jobs for lunch. Now those are our personal problems with it. There are many other reasons this move is, as we see it, a detriment to the business in general, which Jess cares about because he has a lot of time and effort invested into this thing. The move would mean fewer seats for potential diners and also, because of the venue, the likelihood of selling full-on meals would decrease, so too would revenue. The boss is saying that she's unhappy with the current state of things because she's only breaking even. SHE's ONLY BEEN OPEN EIGHT MONTHS!!!! Most retaurants LOSE money for the first YEAR (if they are lucky they'll break even during year two and then possibly make money year three). And she's unhappy. Ignorant, is really the truth of it. She's never known what to REALLY expect from this industry, which is one thing she said she wanted Jessie for - to inform her about the food industry. But he tries and she totally ignores him! Very annoying!!!! So, those are just a few of the issues. I could continue to rant, but I think I'll leave it alone for now.