I Represent!!!

Just to let everyone know, I was represented on HOUSE last night. It's one of my favorite shows and I have a huge crush on Hugh Laurie, so I felt an instant connection to him when on last night's episode, the mystery diagnosis turned out to be Sjogrens.....which apparently causes cysts on your lungs. You can't believe everything you see on TV right? Any who, it was a good episode.

I hate the Dentist!

Ryan had to go to the dentist to get one of her three cavities filled this past week. I was really nervous because she tends to.......throw up when she is nervous or scared. The dentist, Dr. Cullen (wink, wink), could tell that she was going to have a hard time calming down, so he prescribed her Valium to take before her appointment to keep her happy and calm. And they were going to use laughing gas to get thru the filling. I was really nervous....to the point of tears that whole morning. I wasn't sure how I was going to get her to swallow two pills and I was afraid of any reactions to the medication and laughing gas. I imagined her being totally out of it all day and it frightened me to think of her any other way than her happy, silly, and sometimes annoying, self. Well, I crushed up the Valium in her juice and she drank it all up. By the time we got to the appointment, she was super silly. They took her back, all by herself, and they started the procedure. I wasn't allowed to be back there, so I'm not sure how she did. It was over in about a half hour and she walked out smiling and pretty much herself, but sillier. So I was relieved and we went about our day. They warned me before I left that the left side of her face would be numb for awhile and not to let her eat anything until she got some feeling back. OK. So later on that night, I pinched her cheek and she flinched, so I let her have dinner. We were at the Treehouse and she was eating some food. About 15 minutes later, I looked at her and her lip was completely swollen on one side. My employee thought she was having an allergic reaction, but I couldn't figure out from what. She wasn't eating anything new. I realized, after calling the nurse's help line, that her mouth was probably still numb and she completely chewed up her lip. See below.

Pretty gross. The next day was even worse. It looked like an enormous canker sore and the other day she hit it by accident with a toy during her bath and it split open and was bleeding pretty bad. How about that for mother of the year......I don't brush her teeth like I should and she gets cavities, I pinch her on the cheek, and she still manages to chew up her mouth without me knowing.

I can't WAIT for her next two appointments.

4th folder, 4th picture

On Stacy's Blog, she was tagged by a couple people and one of them was to post the fourth picture in your fourth folder. So I was curious to see what picture that would be. So this is it. It's when we picked up Cale from the airport from his mission. I remember being worried that Reagan would not warm up to him, since she didn't really remember him. But to my huge relief, she ran right up to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. I think the picture came out cute too.

HEY GIRLS.....and boys....if you want.....

Three or four years ago we had a small girls night at one of our houses and we made our Christmas cards. Do you remember??? I REALLY want to do that this year again! Who wants in. I know it's early, but I'd rather do it now than to wait until the last minute or not send any cards out at all. I'm thinking first week of November we can get together and assemble our Christmas cards. I'll try and find some easy fun ideas for cards and we'll all get together, have some snacks, and just hang out! Who's in??

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.