Results

Some time ago, I went to my doctor with a couple complaints. One being unusually heavy bleeding and extreme fatigue.
She did the normal blood tests that one would expect. Some came back strange so she sent me to a specialist.
He re-ordered the tests. Tuesday, I met with him to discuss the results. Strangely, I have a blood disorder! I was shocked.
Nothing serious. It's called Von Willebrand's disease. Go ahead and google it. It's interesting but lots of medical jargon.
This specialist described it perfectly for me.
Everyone's blood has a certain protein in it,the von Willebrand factor. When your blood vessel is disturbed , this protein rushes in to fix the problem. It's job is to help the blood clot.
My blood doesn't have enough of this protein and the little amount I have, doesn't do it's job properly.
So. That's why I bleed heavy every month. Heavy enough that I couldn't leave the house.
Unfortunately, it doesn't directly explain my extreme fatigue. But both my ob/gyn and this specialist seem to think that if I'm bleeding that heavy every month, it's to be somewhat expected to be really tired. Strangely, I am not anemic.

The human body is such a weird, miraculous thing. I've had 4 kids, had blood drawn hundreds of times and never thought about it not working correctly. Who woulda thunk it!

Staples

Today I made my weekly grocery list. Blah.
Hate it! It's so hard to be 1) creative 2)healthy 3) cheap for a family of 6. I get frustrated more every week by it. But, it's my job so I do the best I can.

As I looked over my list, I realized that I could probably take the same list every week and just tweak it. Many of the items on it are "staples".

Some are common: (same staples on every list in America)
bread
milk
cereal

Some I am proud of:
apples and bananas
fresh broccoli
cheese sticks (low fat)

And some I am ashamed:
soda (diet and regular)
microwave popcorn (the extra butter kind)
chips (this one really bothers me)

It is weird to go to someone else's house and see what their "staples" are.
What is your weirdest staple?

Survivor

Awhile back I posted how we had lost our 10 yr. old bull dog,Daisy.
She is survived by the other non-human members of our household.
There is Dewalt and Daffy.






A newly married, young, bearded dragon couple, expecting their first hatchlings any day now.
We also have 3 leopard geckos that sadly do not have names. Poor things.

Daisy is also survived by her dearest and bestest non-human friend, Hayley. Our 9 yr. old cat.




And when I say they were close, I mean close. When Hayley was a kitten, she would attempt to nurse off of the dog. And the dog would not only allow it but gladly gave herself to the job.

In the mornings, when Daisy was half asleep and attempting to stand up in the front yard and do her morning "job", Hayley would come out of no where and pounce on her.
The dog was the first one to be greeted when Hayley entered the house. They often slept together.

The funny thing about this cat is this: we've had at least 4 other cats in this house. But they don't survive. We live next to a very busy road. Lots of semi- trucks all day. Seems every time we let the new kitty outside for any length of time (over night), it's not very long until the kitty is no more.

We have our own little theory. And it's kinda sick. So prepare yourself. Think like a cat.

Hayley and "new kitty" sitting by the side of the road.
Hayley: Ok, when I say go, you run as fast as you can across the road.
New Kitty: Ok.
Hayley: Here comes a semi. Wait for it. Wait for it...
New Kitty: It sure is getting close!
Hayley: Wait for it. Wait for it. Ok! NOW!!!
New Kitty:(Now in kitty heaven) What the..??

Hayley never supported us bringing new cats into our home. We've finally given up.

Anyways, as you can see from the above conversation, Hayley is kinda bad ass. She's not much of a "cuddler" or never was one to need any of us. The dog was really the only one she showed any love to. She'd come in, eat, lay around perhaps on our bed for a bit, then out she'd go. And she's always survived out in the wild blue yonder.

But, lately, she can't seem to leave our sides. We have to peel her off of our laps to get up. She comes inside in the mornings and the first thing she does is go and wake up the kids. Jarrett stubbed his toe the other day and was on the floor crying and (I am NOT making this up) Hayley comes along and rubbed her head on his foot!!! Jarrett stopped crying and looked up at me as if to say: "What the..??"

She wishes to sleep with the kids all night.
During the day, this usually absent creature, is like glue to my side. She follows me into the garage while I do laundry. She follows me down the hall to the bathroom. And (again, I am NOT making this up) she talks to me the whole time.
At first, I thought she needed food or water or something. But, now I think she just wants to talk.

My theory? She misses the dog.
Is that possible?
Do animals miss other animals?
It seems that's what happening here.
The lizards seem to be handling it just fine, though. What a relief!

Summer Update

We had a great time last weekend. Didn't get as much "down" time as I would have liked but it was nice to get away for a weekend.
Whenever we do go away, the expectations differ greatly between my husband and I how the time will be spent. We both agree that a majority should be spent in bed, but that's where the similarities end. When the time away is short, it can be frustrating trying to make both of us happy. But, the fact was that I had a 24 hour period of no cooking or breaking up arguments and wiping dirty faces, and I was a happy camper.

The wedding we attended was quite beautiful. An outside wedding, next to a country pond with wild animals all around. And a good BBQ afterward. Again, it was nice to be able to go and sit and visit without having to chase kids.

We had another wedding yesterday. This one was Judd's sister's and Jarrett was the ring bearer. He did awesome. Although, at one point he broke down in disappointment when he found out he didn't get to wear a bear suit. At that point, we decided we'd no longer use the term "ring bearer" but "ringer" instead.

I haven't mentioned it on here, but we've made the decision to home school our kids this year. It's exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I do believe it is the right decision for our kids and our family.
We got 6 giant boxes over the weekend with all the curriculum and such. I haven't even opened the boxes yet. I have no idea where all the stuff is going to go!
It is a strange feeling seeing all the "back to school" ads on t.v. for the sales and not caring! I can relax and buy clothes as my kids need them and not be under the pressure to get it all done by a deadline.

My kids are all nice and tan from swimming and playing outside. They are also covered in bruises. We have gone through more band aids in the last 2 months than the whole rest of the year. Of course, sometimes a band aid is warranted and others it's more of a comfort measure. I try to treat the bumps and bruises as badges of honor. I had stitches numerous times as a child. Kids that are active get hurt. That's just the way it is. Same with dirt. My bath tub is in constant need of scrubbing from all the debris that washes off of my kids every night.
But, in some strange way, it makes me happy to see my kids dirty and bruised after a hard summer day of play.

I am still waiting some blood test results from my appointment several weeks ago. They did call last week and said the doctor would need to see me again. I was under the impression that I would not need to go back unless my test came back with something weird. Apparently, something with my platelets came back funky. So, we will see. I am not too terribly worried. All the huge scary things have been out ruled. I would like to know though. The exhaustion is really a pain in the butt! If my blood is making me feel like crap, I'd like to get it fixed!

The summer is going fast. My days are spent trying to keep the kids busy and everyone happy. That is a never ending job!

Here's some pics of the wedding!


Jarrett ready to be the "ringer"!


Josie


Josie pranking her brother


Jarrett got a tad bored.

My only picture of the actual ceremony. I ended up crying too hard to take any more pictures!

Over the Mountain

Hubby and I are getting away this weekend! Yay us!
Just over the mountain to Bend and staying at the cheapest motel possible and planning on the free food at the wedding but hey! We're going WITH. OUT. CHILDREN.

Not that I don't love my kids, pink eye and all (that would be Jarrett, AKA Mick. Still. Frankly, I'm impressed he's stuck with the name change this long. Maybe I should be worried.)but as I get snappier and more easily exasperated, I realize we need a little time away from each other, the kids from the parents. And the parents away from the kids.

Hope all of you have a fantastic weekend as well!

Singing

I don't understand the words he's singing but how can you not think this is adorable?


Something about "My mom sang this song. It isn't very pretty, it isn't very long" blahblahblah

Then "Pigs don't live in houses and pigs don't make their beds.."
I do know it's a song that he learned at church, about the difference between you and a pig. About how you, being the human, should be clean and neat, not like a pig, which is an animal.

If you listen closely, you can hear Josie doing her lovely yelling/banshee screaming thing in the back ground. In clear contrast to Jarrett's cute performance.

I Am A Prisoner In My Home

To be more specific, in the kitchen area of my home. It's no one's fault really. It's just a fact that most of my day is spent there. I am getting aggravated by it though. I am not quite sure how to remedy it. I already have "rules" in place regarding dining in the Boring home.

1) This is breakfast/lunch/dinner. There will be no substitutions. There will be no snacks 20 min. after the meal is over. You eat now or wait until the next meal.
2) Everyone gets basically the same food. No special requests unless you are dying or it's your birthday.
3) You don't have to finish everything on your plate but you do have to sit still at the table and behave and eat what you can.
4) No complaining!

These rules may sound harsh but truly, we have a good time at the kitchen table. Like last night, Jarrett announcing that he'd like to be called "Mick" from now on. Great. Makes sense to me.

But, even with these rules, I still find myself in the kitchen for a great majority of the day. The fact that we don't have a dishwasher doesn't help. The kids' meals are on paper plates and that reduces the number of big plates to be washed. And, everyone has one cup to last the day. The boys' sippy cups get rinsed with hot water then refilled. Same with the girls' princess cups. (Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I have one extra child here this summer. My 5 yr. old niece. )

It's just the volume of food to be made and consumed that I think is causing the slow down. Jayce had a friend spend the night. So, at breakfast this morning, I fed 6 kids. That's alot of cereal and juice! Josie ate 3 bowls just herself! Even Jarrett Mick ate 2 bowls and he never eats.

By the time I cleaned the cereal bowls and spoons (because we needed the dishes for lunch!), put a load of laundry in, brushed hair, convinced Jeven that his underwear was indeed on backwards, and settled an argument over who was getting to wear the pink dress up shoes (sorry Jarrett Mick), it was time to start lunch!

One box of mac and cheese, and 4 PBJ sandwiches and 2 pitchers of juice later, it looks like I'm done. For a couple hours at least.

Does anyone else feel like their day is "wasted" in the kitchen? I actually enjoy cooking, it's the cleaning up that gets me down.

A Little Diddy For Ya

Well, a Scotsman clad in kilt left the bar one evening fair
And one could tell by how he walked that he'd drunk more than his share
He fumbled round til he could no longer keep his feet
Then stumbled off into the grass to sleep beside the street.



Bout that time two young and lovely girls just happened by,
And one says to the other with a twinkle in her eye
You see yon sleeping Scotsman so strong and handsome built
I wonder if it's true what they don't wear beneath their kilt.


They crept up to the sleeping Scotsman quiet as could be
Then lifted up his kilt about an inch so they could see
And there behold for them to view beneath his Scottish skirt
Was nothing more than God had graced him with upon his birth



They marveled for a moment then one said we'd best be gone
But let's leave a present for our friend before we move along
As a gift they left a blue silk ribbon tied it in a bow
Around the bonnie star the Scot's kilt did lift and show


The Scotsman woke to nature's call and stumbled towards the trees
Behind a bush he lifts his kilt and gawks at what he sees
In a startled voice he says to what's before his eyes
"Ah! Lad I don't know where you've been but I see you won first
prize"