Stress

While some of you may be shocked, I am stressed right now.
As a result, I have been getting 4-6 hours of sleep at night versus my usual 9+ hours of sleep that I need.

During those few hours of sleep, I have been dreaming so much that I get confused about it when I wake up whether they really happened or not.

For example, the night following the vet visit, I dreampt that the cats would poop up all these tapeworms and then get in my bed and lay on or near me and then I'd get one in my mouth and get tapeworm and start losing weight...
Weird, huh?
Have any of you been so stressed that you dream these weird and strange dreams that mix real life with other random real life events that they almost seem real?

Vet visit

Word of advice: Do not drive to the vet with two cats without kennels in the rain!

Last night I had an appointment for both cats at the vet so they could get their shots and their anti-tapeworm medicine.
I tried to call my sister Rachael, but she didn't answer, and I didn't know who else might have a kennel, so I decided to tough it out. I stuck Rocco inside my coat and zipped it up and then picked up Jojo and placed her in the passenger seat. She didn't stay in the seat and decided that sitting on the head rest of my seat would be more comfortable. Then looking out the window, while sitting on my left arm, as I held on to the wheel to drive. All at the same time, Rocco trying to get out of the coat, Jojo is crying and meowing, it's raining and Jojo decides to ride up on the dashboard and in front of the wheel! "Down in front" I said, but she didn't budge, so I had to strategically lean forward, so as not to squish Rocco between me and the wheel, and scoot Jojo, out of my view, as I took the exit off the highway.
While at the vet, they were pretty good. Jojo was a pro and made me proud. Then it was Rocco's turn. The vet grabbed him by the back of the neck and tried to poke him with the needle... really? that's all you're going to hold? he's a cat! he's clever! and you aren't holding on to him better than that???
Rocco wasn't having any of this and got her with his back legs. shocking! She had to go get a "holder" to hold him down so she could poke him with a needle and after a few struggles, she finally succeeded, although Rocco let out the loudest scream ever, and I started crying!
I felt kind of bad that Rocco scratched the vet, but then again, she's supposed to be a professional and should have taken precautions, right?
Either way, she said she was fine and the office called me today to make sure the cats were okay, which I thought was very considerate and I asked how the vet was and the lady said she didn't know but that they're used to that kind of thing.

Oh, and poor Rocco, after all that drama last night, went over to my cousin's and got "fixed" today! Oh, and Rachael and Lori, you both should be proud to know that I did not faint or throw-up either!

Stories from Grandma's attic, II

While I wasn't able to locate my post-its with Grandma's stories, but remembered most of the stories while talking to Mom last night, so here are some stories from grandma...

When grandma Annie met grandpa Ray:
One Saturday after church (Grandpa Ray's first time at the church), Ray came up to Annie and told her that he saw her in church. Not giving anything, she asked him where. In the choir. "Are you sure?" Grandma asked him. What was I wearing and where was a sitting? (Apparently, she was a hard-to-get professional!) But Ray knew exactly where she sat and exactly what she wore, which she said was pretty easy because everyone in the choir wore the same robes! Grandma Annie told me, "I didn't even see him!!!"
Then he had asked her if he could see her again and she replied with "Yeah, next week in church!"
And did you know that it was Great-Grandma that told Annie that she should invite Ray over for dinner? (Apparently, Grandpa Ray worked at some factory and only had half an hour for lunch and would go over to Grandma Annie's house and she would have his favorite beans ready for him, Pinto or Butter (Lima) beans.)
They met in April 1950 and married June 25, 1950 (Grandma Annie was 19 years old).
I told grandma Annie that they didn't waste any time! And she told me that they didn't back then and that grandpa Ray wasn't Adventist when they met but had gotten baptized before they got married.

Grandma Annie on getting pregnant:
Grandma Annie told me that soon after they got married, she got pregnant but lost the baby. She was so sad and they kept trying to get pregnant but it just wouldn't happen!
So, she decided to go to this doctor and paid $500, "Which was a lot of money back then!" And the doctor told her that she was too anxious and she needed to stop thinking about it and then it may just happen! "I thought he was crazy!" she told me.
Well, of course her brother and sisters were having kids and could have kids whenever they wanted... "if one of them wanted one in January, they'd have one in January."
Grandma Annie had a job just across the hospital and she told me that everyone that came out of the doors either had a baby in their hands or was pregnant!
Then one of her friends told her about this other doctor and she went to him. Later, he told her she was pregnant and she told him that she wasn't and he told her "you wanna bet?" So, then she knew she was pregnant.
She said she was so excited! And she was also excited because she was going to be the only one having a baby that year!
She had mom in February, then her sister had Tony in July (I think), then her other sister had DeAnne later that year (I think that's the one), and the following year, her sister had Carla!

While I may not write them as good as they were told to me, I still think they are pretty funny and want to make sure I get these stories written down. Remember, you have to read these stories and imagine Grandma Annie's excited voice telling these stories with a ton of emotion. She was so funny telling me , as if they were mystery stories. And they were to me.

Stories from Grandma's attic

While I was finishing a scarf last night for grandma Annie, I decided to give her a call and chat for a few minutes, which actually turned out to be almost 40 minutes, but it was pretty cool because I started asking her about how she met grandpa Ray and she told me all kinds of stories, which I normally would write on my blog, but for the fact that I took notes on my favorite things in the world, post-its, and now I can't find them!
But I did find one of the post-its, so here's one of her stories... *

Just a little background...
I was sitting on my couch, crocheting and watching TV on mute, and chatting with Grandma Annie, while my cat, Rocco, decided to jump on the shelf above the couch and knock down the hard wooden candle holder on my head, to which I thought I would faint, but didn't...
So, I told Grandma Annie, what had just happened and she told me this story...

Back in the day, she was working for this man, who never smiled or laughed or showed any emotion...
Well, he was doing something and had cut his finger. So, I went to help him with a band-aid and started telling him that I had taken 1st aide and they taught me that at the first sight of blood, hemorrhaging would happen right away and I would have to put a tourniquet on the man's neck, just in case!
Of course, we were both laughing at this...
And you know what he did?
No, what!
He looked up at me, didn't crack a smile or nothin' and I was about to bust! Then he said, really slow, "I don't believe it's that way..."
Then I just started cracking up!

So, to all sum it up for those that haven't taken 1st aid yet, blood = hemorrhaging = tourniquet on the neck (according to Grandma Annie!)

*This story was NOT about how she met Grandpa Ray. Just one of the many random stories she had told me.

It's cold!

There are many things that freeze:
-vegetables
-water
-dinners
-Etc.

And there are many things that don't freeze:
-nuts
-coconut
-toothpaste (I only know this because me and my friends were trying to freeze this cute boys toothpaste in the freezer, to play a joke on him, and in the morning, all we got was really cold toothpaste!)
-Etc.

But among all these items... who knew that laundry soap would freeze?
I mean, come on!
I usually leave my laundry soap in my car, so where ever I go to do laundry, I have it with me and don't have to add it to the numerous pounds of baskets full of clothes or towels.
Well tonight was the night to find out this really important thing.
DON'T LEAVE LAUNDRY SOAP IN THE CAR WHEN IT'S ZERO DEGREES OUTSIDE! BECAUSE IT ACTUALLY DOES FREEZE!
So, in the future, dear readers, keep this in mind.
You can't do laundry with frozen laundry soap.

Now, I've just got to figure out if it's still good.

And for those that get a kick out of my complaining, (Rachael), don't worry, I'm not going to let you down!
I may just look on the bottle to see if there actually was a warning for this and if there's not... I may just find time to give a little company a little call!
HA-HA-HA!!!

Grandma Scrooge - revisited

I called Grandma Annie again tonight to see if she got my card. And she did! She loved the pictures of Kristen, Katie, Jack, Ben, and Anthony that I sent her. I had also made sure that their names and dates were on the back of each picture, which she thought was very helpful.
She was so funny, as she's been, and had asked me if my hair was still blond, naturally, and I told yes, although I had added high and low lights for Natalie's wedding.
She then told me a story...
When Mom, her daughter, was pregnant with Lori, she took grandma Annie to get a "permanent" on mother's day.
The man that was doing the "permanent" asked G. Annie who had done her highlights in her hair. While she had NEVER done that to her hair before! So, she told him flat out, "well, my husband of over 20 years, my two kids, and 3 and a half grandchildren!"
He told her that he's never heard a better answer!
Then she started laughing!
She just cracks me up!
She also thanked me for the piece of paper with the number 20 on it, and I told her that I figured she needed it more than I would. She said that I was probably right. Then I told her not to blow it all in one place, but she said she couldn't make any promises...!
I think I'll send her more pictures with another card, soon.
Anyone want me to take pictures of their kids to mail to Grandma Scrooge???

I'm on a budget

I am on a budget. I'm trying to save money and buy a house. Or a new car. Or something else. Not quite sure, yet, but I'm still on a budget...
I just had to brag to someone though... I was so proud of myself last night.
I had to buy groceries because I had no food in my house* and I'm a budget, so I'm trying to be really careful.
Called Jason. He was doing stuff on EBay.
Called Lori. She was heading into work.
Called Rachael. She was at Joann's (shocking!).
So, basically, I had no where to go for dinner. (ha-ha!)
So, I went to the grocery store and told myself that I would not use more than $10 on groceries, so if I got something, it would have to last me and I'd had to be very practical!
So, I got...
1. Potatoes - $2
2. Gallon of milk - $3
3. Box of pasta - $.84
4. Can of tomato juice (V-8 was too much $) - $1
5. Bread - $1
6. Flour tortillas - $1
All for less than $9.00!!!
I was pretty proud of myself, and it worked out great because last night I made some noodles with the tomato juice for dinner and also boiled half the potatoes and made creamy potato soup for the week.
The bread will be perfect for PB J's or to rip and put under some home-made gravy in the morning.
I also have some leftover cheese and two cans of enchilada sauce, so the tortillas combined with those will be perfect for, yet, another meal!
Oh, and I also have cereal for the milk. I almost got a 1/2 gallon instead but it was only $1 cheaper, so by February 4, I have to try and use as much milk as possible! It seems like the closer to the expiration date, the more I use it, because to me, milk always smells spoiled! So, I HAVE to follow the date...
Either way, I was so excited for sticking to a budget and working with what I already have at home, that I had to share with all of you!!!

*When I say "I have no food in my house" it usually means that I don't have anything instant to make or that I don't have anything that goes together...

Are sermons supposed to make sense???

The weather was somewhere below zero this morning, but I toughed it out and went to Church.
No big deal, right?
Well, not counting the remark made about one of the candidates being an "idiot", the sermon was really, REALLY, confusing!
He starts out with a story of him going to the principals office because he got in trouble for something or other and he was in there alone and realized there was a door to the attic. So, he put a chair on the desk and climbed up and found a coin. 18th century coin.
Then he moves on to Ezekiel, when he sees these angels with 6 wings, 4 faces, and wheels with eyes...
Then he moves on to Adam and Eve and how God had to make skins for them to wear, when they sinned (but told us that it must have been the first sacrifice... why would God sacrifice an animal, to Himself, for clothing??? I don't think so! Why would he just say that? It doesn't say that in the Bible! Anyone know anything about this?)
Then he goes back to the wheels with eyes.
Then, all of a sudden, he said, "Let's turn to the closing hymn."
What? He didn't tie ANYTHING together! He didn't relate the eye wheels with the skins made by God... and WHAT ABOUT THE COIN????
I don't know, but that was the worst sermon I've ever heard!
On the positive side, at least I listened to the whole thing, right???
Do any of you have any advice on this one? I almost want to write to the Church and complain or call the pastor and ask him if he had a point to share with us that he forgot to mention.
If it weren't for the songs, prayer, and scripture reading...
Either way, I should probably go to another Church, unless there's a guest speaker!
You all know I'm just venting right now, but as someone with a communications degree, how did this pastor get through any speech class?

Grandma Scrooge

After about about three years, I called my Grandma Annie last night. Lori had told me that she just recently called her, too, and that Grandma Annie was super sweet (as usual) and so, even though I'm stricken with guilt of a granddaughter that doesn't keep in contact, I figure, why not? She's not going to be mad!
In fact, she was so funny and I think she was really happy that I called too!
She just cracks me up!
She started telling me a couple of stories...
I remember when you kids were playing like you were back in Bible times and washing your clothes in water with rocks and Rachael came up and asked you what you all were doing... then she said, well, why don't you just go back to Grandma's time??? Then Grandma Annie started laughing!

She also told me about the stray cats in the area, that has become hers (and you wonder why we all have pets!). There's Garfield, Ladybug, Lovebug, and another one that I can't remember the name to. She started telling me that Garfield is a pretty clever little cat. He'll come inside the house, go to the bedroom door, and stand on his hind legs and stretch his arms up towards the handle and OPEN THE DOOR!!! She said that she'd be in the bedroom and the door will open and you're expecting a person to walk through and there's that cat! And the first thing Grandma Annie thinks is...
Well, are you going to close the door? It's cold!

One more thing that she told me, was to tell Jason, that "he better be good to you, because I'm the meanest grandma in town, or in the world, for that matter!"
I thought that was pretty cool that she's so protective!

She's so funny!
I mailed her some pictures (including a couple of me and Jason and Anthony, Kristen, Katie, Jack and Ben) and a card today so hopefully she get it soon. But just like Lori said, she was just happy to talk!

Re-solutions 2008 (take two)

Just a quick and short update...
Yeah... the whole walking thing in the morning lasted about one day...
I watched a couple movies last night with Jason and then read my book before I went to bed around 1 a.m. something. No, I didn't get up and walk.

Also, this whole walking thing back-fired already. One of my co-worker's brought in cookies, that I had to try, and a buster bar from DQ that she forced me to eat, too.

So much for that!

But I'm not giving up!

I've got to keep trying!

So, I'm going to continue to work on it!

Wish me luck, because apparently, I need it...

Re-solutions 2008

I figured out that resolutions could also be pronounced as "re-solutions"! Solutions to problems from the last year that need to be re-evaluated and re-done!
So, I have decided on a few "solutions" this year.
I wasn't going to write them down, but then, after 10 days, I figured that if I didn't, then I wouldn't even attempt them in order to break them or forget about doing them...
So, here goes...
1. Read books. Not really a solution to a problem, but more of a goal for the year. I finished one book on the 1st of Jan. and now I'm on another one!
2. Exercise. This is a very generic term, but I don't want to be too specific, as in how many times, how much, what, when, etc. so, I'm just saying "exercise!" Yup, I actually got up this morning at 6 a.m. and walked for an hour with one of my friends, then came home and went to bed for another 1.5 hours before getting up and ready for work at 9 a.m.! I guess I'll have to see how long this lasts, huh?
Well, I was thinking of a few more, but then realized that I don't think they are necessarily problems that I have to solve, ha-ha!
I'll probably add more later or tweak these at some point, I'm sure, but at least I have some goals for the year!
Hey, did any of you hear about that church that made the resolution for the members not to complain for 21 days? Could you do it? Ever since I heard that yesterday, I've been complaining even more!

Trick or treat?

What I though would be a treat, today, turned out to be a trick!
I had called Lori last night to tell her that I was off work today and that we should hang out! We were going to go have lunch and watch a movie. I even picked up Starbucks, for us both, today to start the day out great!
Unfortunately, she had other intentions!
Take down the Christmas tree and clean house! Fortunately, she had already taken the ornaments down, so I just helped tidy up and stuff, but I was tricked, 100%!
I have to say that she got me good, though...

Now, the house is pretty much in order and now she's getting ready for the day. I think we'll go run errands...

Kristen's 11th birthday party

While I'm at Rachael's, I'm trying to get a little caught up on my pictures. Here's what I have so far from today.
Kristen and Anthony AKA: "Cuz-Cuz" Here's a bunch of the kids bowling; not quite sure where Kristen is at this time.

Adventures in babysitting

Lori has been telling me about all the adventure-some nights with Anthony, so since I was at their house last night, I told her that I'd help a little and take the first shift.

After she fed him and changed him, she then showed me all the noise makers in the room to prepare me for the next few hours. The humidifier, the de-humidifier, the CD player, the stuffed animal that has three different noises (well, there's actually four, but 'don't play the whale' sound!) She then showed me how the fan in the bathroom works wonders as well as another song toy that's timed for between 15 and 18 minutes.
I took Anthony and they left for bed, it was sometime after 10:30 p.m. or so. Well, Anthony starting crying right off the bat and Todd came back in to tell me how to told him just so and that he likes bounces but not wimpy ones, the big bounces! "Okay, thanks!"
So, I must have gotten the right mixture of humidifier sound, CD player on, and ocean noises, as well as the correct bouncing method along with a little bottom pat every other bounce or so, and he was asleep! I thought this was WAY too easy! I then tried to lay him in his bed and found out that it actually wasn't that easy!
So, I started over...
This time, I made it to the chair and ended up having him lay on me, then I reclined and closed my eyes... we slept for about an hour like that! Once I woke up, I realized that we was still sleeping, so I attempted the bed, again. Didn't work, again.
After a little bit more, he started crying, so I laid him in his bed and woke up Lori for Anthony's midnight snack. It was around 1:15, I think. I headed home and to bed.
Not too bad! Lori told me later that she got him to sleep after his snack for almost three hours! (Lori told me that she hoped he was good, but not too good, in order to validate her stories... well, it wasn't too bad unless he was in his bed!)

Bringing in the new year!

REVISED: I'VE GOT SOME PICTURES NOW!
I was waiting to post about my new year's eve events, until I could put the pictures on, but I'll do that part later...
Jason and I drove to the train station and had a little over an hour trip to Chicago. Non-eventful, but pretty fun. We had just recently watched "Adventures in Babysitting" one of my all-time favorite movies since childhood, and it's based in Chicago, so my ideas of riding on the train was something like having one gang come in one door and another through the other end...
But, thankfully, no gangs!
Once we got off the train, we enjoyed the 20-something degree weather with sleety-like snow stuff from the sky, puddles of snow/ice from the ground and WIND from either side.
I wanted to take a cab to the place we were staying, but Jason thought it'd be too expensive and we were planning on stopping somewhere to eat dinner, but we didn't end up stopping anywhere to eat, and ended up walking the entire way to the Indigo. I had mapquested it, and it was 2.something miles (but I think that's if we would have taken a cab, I don't think that the walk was that long!)
A few minutes after we arrived, Betsy and Steve arrived (so much for saving time with the train, huh???)
Then we went out, again, to find something to eat.

By the way, I had this amazing home-made mushroom soup! It was so good! It was like a portabella mushroom thick soup, but instead of chunks of mushrooms, they pureed them and it was really creamy. They also served us fresh sourdough bread that was awesome. Super soft and perfect!
We then decided to head out to the Navy Pier for the fireworks at midnight. After a while, we hailed a cab, and since he told us that it took him three hours to get out of N.P. already, Steve decided that he could just drop us off at some road, and we'd walk the rest of the way... BAD IDEA!
We walked about 1/2 a mile, Jason slipped on the ice, we laughed along with many eye-witnesses, then found out that some park was closed, so we had to go another way, then we continued walking, towards some kind of "short-cut" that was neither short, nor a cut!
After we realized that the so-called "short-cut" wasn't working for us, we turned around to find that we had followers! Poor things! We found a cab that took us to N.P. and left the others in our dust (er... snow???)

By this time the temp was not as warm and the wind was more fierce...
We had opted for warm comfy clothes vs. the dressy clothes we had brought. And we were still freezing! I'm sure we weren't as cold as those "hot" little girls that decided to wear strappy heals (in the snow and ice) with short minny skirts... CRAZY!!!
Then Jason and Steve decided that they had to go to the bathroom! After fighting our way through the McD's, I saw something I've only rarely seen in my life... There was a LINE for the men's room! I couldn't believe it! We then went outside just in time for the count-down, then the fireworks! It was a great time, and pretty memorable. (Not sure if I want to repeat such a wonderful, exciting, freezing, windy time, again...!)

This is a picture of the highway on our way home... it sucked! There were accidents almost every mile or so!

So, what kind of eventful night did you guys have? I don't think any of my sister's wrote about their exciting way of bringing in the new year!!! Come on and share!