Edna's Favorite Things.

Hey if Oprah can have a list....why can't I?



1. The Treehouse! Sorry....shameless plug!

2. Dreyer's Real Fruit Strawberry Popsicles. They're my Lays Chips...."once you've had one, you can't stop!" This should be under Chris' least favorite things, because he finds my Popsicle sticks everywhere. Sorry!

3. Oreos with a glass of milk. Does it get any better than that? And to think I use to hate Double stuff. What was I thinking? If it was socially acceptable, I would easily eat a whole package by myself in a day.........hhmmm....I wonder why I'm fat?

4. Going to the Movies. Nothing reminds me more of being married with NO kids than going to the movies. Chris and I would go to Park Mall movie theater every week in Tucson and after the movie we would go to the Gap. Wow.....now we go to Target to buy more pull-ups and apple juice after our movie night.

5. Taking our girls bowling or to the splash park. For a moment I feel like I'm a good mom. It's great to see them enjoying themselves and they think we're the coolest parents for taking them there.

6. Fabuloso. That's Fabulous in Spanish. It's the mexican's Pine Sol. But it smells so much better! I feel like I have a really clean house when I smell it. They came out with a spray bottle version that I clean my counters with....and it's the best. You can find it at Walmart....and probably Del Sol and Food City.

7. One Word.....IKEA.

8. Disneyland! The last time we took the girls last January.....Disneyland became magical again. They had so much fun and Chris even had a great time too. Can't wait til next January to go.

9. DVR!! (TiVo) I will quote another mom on this one....."Zoloft and Tivo has made me a better mom!" If you don't have it....get it!

10. Girl's Night! I'm convinced I have the funniest coolest friends! I look forward to this night all the time......hey girls....I think it's time again!!

11. Walmart. I felt like I was in one of their commercials the other day. I went to walmart and did all my shopping in one place while I got my oil changed. Pretty cool.

12. Playhousedisney.com. Ryan will sit quietly at the computer for an hour straight and play games. That's enough time for me to clean my house......or lay on the couch.

13. Sunday Newspaper ads. I just love looking through them.

14. TV. I have my favorite, can't miss shows. Heros, Lost, The Office, House, 30 Rock, and Project Runway.

15. Infomercials. I don't know why.....but I love to watch them......usually its 2 am when I'm watching them.

16. Vacuuming. I do it everyday. It's my favorite chore.

My Least favorite things!

1. LOCAL NEWS!!!! I really think our local new anchors and reporters don't have any idea what they are reporting. I really believe they just read the prompter and go home. I hate when they start to have friendly banter on the air.......it just makes me uncomfortable to watch them.

2. City Nicknames. I think "The Big Apple" is the only acceptable one. I hate how Yuma is "The Desert Southwest", Tucson is "The Old Pueblo", and Phoenix is "The Valley." ?!?!? Valley? Where are the mountains? I know there are mountain ranges around them.....but I can't see them. Wouldn't that make everyone in a valley?

3. Yuma Commercials. Especially the ones with jingles. I believe yuma is Single handedly keeping those people in business. Why does everyone feel the need to add some cheesy song to their commercial? Next year for Yuma Idol, I'm singing a medley of Yuma jingles.

4. Bad drivers. I don't know why driving 25 miles an hour in a 45 is ok.

5. Ok...new one. Words that are changed to sound like another one......like "Sale-a-bration", "Spook-tacular", "frog-get-about-it"(complete with stuffed frog saying it), and the ultimate, "Fun-citement!" Holy cow. Seriously? These words do the opposite for me......I do not get excited......I get furious!

I'm sure that once I post this.....I'll think of way more. and unlike Oprahs favorite things.....I have no free stuff to give. Thanks for letting me vent though!!!

A Quickie

I took Ryan and Reagan to school yesterday morning and Ryan ran straight to the bathroom (she didn't get a chance to go before we left...). So I took Reagan to her class and then went checked in on Ryan in the bathroom. She was there with another little girl, Abbey, which I'm friends with her parents.

I said: "Hi Abby!"
Abby: "My dog Pooped and peed on the floor!!" (which huge big serious eyes!)
Ryan: very serious as well..."Reagan does that too."

I laughed.

For the first time in 11 years........

I'm unemployed. It feels.....great! and strange. There is still the HUGE worry of no health insurance. Chris works for a firm that is just him and his boss, so he gets no benefits there. That was why I worked. I provided health insurance for my whole family. And the bank had great benefits. I worked 20 hours a week and I got full medical, dental, and vision for all four of us. We knew that we would eventually have to buy our own. The thought of being at the bank for the rest of my life....was.....depressing. So why not now??? We're almost ready to open The Treehouse and I need to focus on that. But now....come to find out......I can't find insurance to cover me. I have been diagnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. I found out when my first daughter, Ryan was born. She was born with a bad rash on her face and after seeing a dermatologist, he determined it was neo-natal lupus. He looked at me and ask me if I have lupus. I said no. After two weeks of blood tests, they pin pointed it to be Sjogrens. I had no symptoms, so I didn't know I had it. Basically, it's an auto-immune disease that attacks the moisture glands in my eyes and mouth. So...I have dry eyes and dry mouth. Nothing unbearable, but this is the reason we won't have anymore children either. Ryan was very blessed that all she had was a rash and we were even more blessed that Reagan came out perfect! But now we have a 50% chance that the next child could have a major heart defect and require a pacemaker put in with days of being born. That's a risk I'm not willing to take. We have been blessed with two healthy beautiful daughters and I am grateful for that.
So back to getting insurance.....no one will cover me because of SS. I didn't realize having dry eyes made me a menace to the medical world. They'll cover someone with AIDS, but not cover my eye drops.....which I just buy over the counter. So what am I going to do?? I'm going to use up my COBRA benefits through work and then someone will be forced to cover me, but it's going to be expensive. I can see myself returning back to work get on a group plan that will cover me. Sad.