2008 New Year's Wishes

I don’t know if I can top last years, but I’ll give it a try!

The first is for me (Hey, I’m writing it, I get the first wish!) – I wish for a healthy New Year. I wish for the body that I want. I wish for peace of mind. I wish to stop worrying about what other people think of me and just be me. I wish for people to tell me the truth even if it hurts and I wish to be able to tell people what I really think without worrying if it will hurt their feelings or our friendship. I wish for more friendship, more love, and always more money. I wish that doing day care at home pays off and I’m able to stay home instead of going back to work in the corporate world. I wish for my husband to love me more. I wish for my kids to be healthy and happy. I wish for more patience to deal with both them and John. I wish for more energy and more willingness and less procrastination.

John - I wish him Health. I wish that he would see what he’s doing to himself. That he needs to take care of his blood pressure, his sleep apnea and his weight before it’s too late. I wish him Hope. Hope that his future will be better than it is now. Not necessarily perfect, but at least more comfortable. I wish him Romance. I wish that he would see that I’m doing this to my body for him as much as for me and I wish he would recognize it more and encourage me more. I want him to have a trophy wife (not that I’ll ever be that good looking). I wish him Love. I wish that he knew how much I loved him.

Nick - I wish him Calm. To be able to know when he’s loosing control and handle it. I know that’s a wish for the far future, but I hope one day it happens. I wish him Knowledge. I hope that everything he learns in school gets sucked into that brain of his and makes him smarter than we are so he can do more than we’ve done. And I wish him Fun. I wish that he is able to have Fun at least once every single day.

Calli - I wish her Health. I wish her not to have to struggle the way Nick is. I wish I could go back in time and change something I did so that neither of my children would have to face the battle this life is about to deal them. I wish her Patience. Patience to deal with a Mommy who isn’t always patient with her. I wish her Happiness in everything she does. I wish her all the jewelry, make-up and dresses her little closet can handle.

Mom – I wish you Health. I wish for all your aches and pains to go away. I wish for Youth. For you to feel as young as you are inside. I wish you Nature. For all of your surroundings to bloom and grow into the beauty of the earth. I wish you a Happy Life and Retirement.

Pop – I wish you Health as well. I wish for your diabetes to magically go away so you can have all the sweets you want! I wish for the pounds to magically go away so you can walk and run and dance the night away. I wish you Money so you and Mom can quit working and have fun in retirement.

Joanne – I wish you Health always. I wish for the MS to go away and leave you in peace. Or at least a progression so slow that it doesn’t fully hit till you’re 90 and have enjoyed your life. I wish you Peace. Peace of mind knowing that everything may not be the way you want it to be, but it is how it’s supposed to be. I wish you Grandma’s love. I wish you to be the wonderful, loving grandmother that our Grandma was to us.

Andrea – I wish you Sobriety. I wish for you to stay on this new path you are on. To stay clean and sober and to live your life like you should have done for the past 15 years. I wish you Love with your man. I wish you Peace with your kids. I wish you Joy with yourself.

John's Family - I wish you Joy. Joy in everything you do from big to small. To be happy with every meal, every conversation, every sunrise. To smile for no reason, to laugh because you smiled. To love each other every single day.

Faith & John - I wish you Happiness. I wish to see you more often. I wish for our girls to be closer. I wish for a full life for you. I’m also still wishing for a new niece or nephew. hee hee

Aunt Irene – I wish you Joy. I am so glad that we have the relationship that we do and I hope that it just gets stronger. I wish you Love. Love from your man, your kids, and your friends. I hope that your kids know what a great mother they have even when you’re being a mother. You’ve been through it all and I hope they can see that even though they may not like it, you do know what you’re talking about. I wish you Strength. Strength to be able to handle whatever else may come your way.

Laura – I love you girl! I wish you Love. Enough love to spread through that brood of yours. And so much love in return that your heart is overflowing every day. I wish you Health. I wish you Hope. I wish you Joy and I wish you lived closer to me! Thank you for coming back into my life and saving me from many a meltdown when it came to Nick.

Cassy and Casey – I wish you Everything. You are starting your lives together in a big way. I wish you Strength to deal with whatever may come. I wish you Love to pour over that precious new baby. I wish you Money to pour into that new house. I wish you Peace in your everyday. I wish you abounding Happiness for the rest of your lives. I also wish you Knowledge. Remember, you’re smarter than you think and you can do just about anything. Choose a path and follow it. It may fork, but it will only lead you to a better destination. I wish you Luck. The best of luck for everything you do.

The rest of my family - I wish you all Health, Happiness and Peace. I wish that you all enjoy your lives the way they are and strive to make them even better. I wish you all a wonderful New Year.

All my old Avis co-workers – I wish you Employment! I heard that they were outsourcing all of you and I hope that you all move on to bigger and better things. May you all get 6 figure jobs! Best of luck to all of you.

My Baby Board Girls - I wish you Love. I wish I hadn’t strayed so far away from all of you. Just remember, I think of you often and you’re always in my heart. You guys are great friends/sisters. I send all of you warm hugs and kisses!

Margaret – I wish you Success. Success in MK so great that you surpass Cindy. I wish you Love. You ooze love from every pour of your body everyday and I hope that you receive just as much back and then some. You are a wonderful person through and through and I hope you see all that you have and treasure it.

Donna – I wish you Peace. Peace from the world. I wish for them to find a cure for cancer, a cure for immune diseases, a cure for age so that you can have your family with you always. I wish you all the best in everything. Thank you for being there for me the past year. The job may not have worked out, but life is trying to find a way. I also wish you more phone calls and visits from me!

Rich & Kevin – I wish you Abundance. An abundance of everything. Love, Joy, Hope and Peace. May your love for each other grow each day. I wish you tolerance. Tolerance from others as well as from yourselves. I wish you every happiness. Thank you for being our friends even if we are a bit uncouth!

Lea & Tom – I wish you Pleasure. Pleasure taken from everything around you. Your kids, your spouse, your crazy lanky dog. I hope that we stay friends for a very long time. Thank you Lea for all your hard work. For your pressure to keep me on track. For helping me through this transformation. Without your daily push, I wouldn’t be where I am today. You get ALL the credit on this one. Thank your for being my work out buddy! Thank you for looking so damn good that it gives me motivation to look as good as you! I’m so glad our kids got put on the same team. It’s been a great few months and I hope it can be a lifetime friendship. Tom, thank you for your patience. I know dealing with the technically challenged can be hard! We promise to wait until next year to screw anything else up!

Michelle & Tim – I wish you Love. Love each other and your kids with your whole heart everyday. I wish you Real Estate. I wish for you to be able to sell your house and buy the one you’ve always dreamed of. I wish you Friendship. I wish for you to have more friends than you can handle and more joy than your heads can take. I wish you Success in business. I wish for Tim’s phone projects to sell a gazillion and for Shell’s cake business to take off. Imagine that new house with a separate commercial kitchen in it! I wish you Patience and Tolerance. Patience to deal and appreciate my kids for what they are even if they are a pain in the ass. More tolerance for them would mean more chances for us to have fun together. Thank you for being our friends. For being there for us and for caring enough to want to.

Mark, Kim, Allison, Eric and Liz – I wish you Success. Success in everything you do. Whether it be business, love, home, or life. I hope to see marriage in the future for all of you. I wish you Growth. Grow your love, grow your lives, grow you minds. I wish you Sight. See things that are around you that you may not have noticed. And try to see things in a new light. Your opinion from yesterday could be different today. I wish you Love. Love yourselves for who you are not what you think you should be.

To all of the other people I know - I wish you the joys of the holiday season. To remember the holidays are about giving, not getting. And not necessarily gifts you buy. Gifts of the heart. Gifts of Love, of Friendship, of Hope. It’s about family and friends. I wish each of you a Very Merry Christmas and a healthy, happy, prosperous New Year.

What a long week! I think Christmas is just like a wedding. You plan for months and months and it's over in one day! Kind of a let down.

The kids made out pretty good. Unfortunately, I think Nick did better than Calli. He got way more stuff to "play" with. Calli got mostly art stuff, which is what she loves, but I noticed that besides that, she really didn't get many actual toys.

I got John a zip up fleece which I really like on him and a GPS, which he is in love with! He was pissed off at first cause Mr. Genius decided to go shopping for me on Christmas Eve of all days, and unfortunately the mortgage had gone through and wiped out our account so there was no money to buy me anything. Hence, the PO'd behavior cause he got stuff and I didn't. He did get me a set up for my phone that lets you download music onto it which is really cool.

I think when it comes to the holidays, I'm more of a giver than a receiver. I love the look on people's faces when they open the gifts I gave them. I think that's way more fun. I like to try to find something they really want. I'm totally fine with getting nothing really. I have too much crap already. The only thing I would really "need" is clothes. But I wouldn't want someone to buy them since at this point my clothes are only fitting for about a month. That's just a waste. So everyone being happy on the holiday is present enough for me.

John took the kids to his parents in the afternoon and they got a ton more stuff there. Nick got an Ipod and digital camera. Calli got a barbie horse and carriage and a couple of dolls. She also got the Crayola magic paint brush thing which is totally cool! Fiber optics ROCK!

Oh, speaking of the brat! She begged me for this stupid swimming baby doll. It was like $35 which was ridiculous, but she really wanted it, so fine, I got it. We put the batteries in, started the tub put her in and boom, she swims, really cool right.. WRONG. "Mommy, how do you make her not swim? I just want to play with her". WHAT??? I could have bought a $5 doll to do that! Arg. Well, unless you take out the batteries, it can't be turned off. Plus, it's all motorized, so if you start moving her arms and legs around, it'll break. Great. That's freaking money down the drain. Hopefully she'll like it more in the summer when the baby's swimming in the pool. Freaking kids!

Their favorite gifts were of course on of the cheapest! I bought them each back packs that had tents, sleeping bags and camping stuff in them. I got them for $10! We set them up in the play room and that is where my kids have slept since Christmas. LOL

So after a two week break, I told Lea yesterday that enough was enough and we needed to get back to our workouts. I feel like crud! She should be coming over today. We're doing it here cause both the boys are off of school and we have more room to play here. Plus the brakes on the car need to be done really bad, so John said not to drive it.

We got most of the Christmas stuff down last night. Didn't have time to do everything because yesterday was Lea's kids birthday party. They're only a couple weeks apart, so they do a combined party. After the party we went back to their house to hang out. We got home around 7pm and I was just fed up with looking at the mess. So I just started pulling down boxes and taking everything apart. I know, I'm bah humbug, but I wanted my house back. The living room is all done except for the mantel. Today I'm starting on the kitchen that looks like a hurricane went through it. Then laundry, then bedrooms, then I'll tackle the play room. I probably wont get to the play room today, but it's on my list of things to do ASAP. I want to get it back to a usable state. Calli's stuff is all still in her bedroom from the summer. I'd love to get some of those storage shelves like Michelle has, but we're too broke right now. Eventually I guess. I just need to get it straightened out right now.

Ok, off to begin! Nick just unloaded the dishwasher (rock on!) so now I have to go fill it back up again (boo)

Have a day folks.

Well, it's Christmas Eve. And it's rainy and foggy out! NO!! what's up with that? If anything, it's supposed to snow, not rain. BLAH!! Mother Nature is not in the Christmas spirit.

I am though. We finished wrapping all the presents last night. Ug! I made John bring them all in from the garage and we sat there for a couple hours wrapping. Then we put them all in big garbage bags and put them out in the smoking room. That way if the kids look, they'll just think it's garbage. Hee Hee... We didn't want to have to put them back out in the garage. So now I'm going to clean up the house and start getting ready for dinner at Aunt Pat's. Then it's home to put the kiddies to bed, bring in the presents and stuff the stockings. Just call me Santa!!

I can't remember if my "wishes" post was done on Christmas or new years last year... well, either way, I'll do it for New Years cause I need more time to prepare it. Don't worry, it's coming.

Merry Christmas all! And just remember, this holiday is about giving, not receiving. It doesn't matter what you get. The best present you can get is the happy look on other people's faces when they receive your gift. I know my greedy little kids are way to young to understand that now, but I hope they learn. Hell, when I was younger, I wanted all the presents I could get. Now, ... honestly, I don't care if I don't get a single thing (well, except my Christmas PJ's. Gotta have that!!) I am way happier giving to other people. (That's probably why we're so broke!)

Ok, Happy Holidays to all of you. I love you so much! Hope Santa's Good To You!

We went to a Christmas party last night held by our friends Rich and Kevin. They have a big bash every year and it's always lots of fun. Their house is beautifully decorated. This year they had 3 trees... oh wait maybe it was 4? I couldn't keep track! The food was outstanding as always. Everything was so yummy. His chicken wings always come out better than mine. I think he left out something in the recipe!

We even got to go.... without kids!!! My little cousin Crystal came over to help me make the last of the perogi and she volunteered to stay with the kids. WOO HOO!! You ROCK CRYSTAL!!

It's always great to see Rich's family. I love them so much. They're "good people". They had a heater going outside for the smokers but it was still freaking ass cold out there! This weather is crazy! The only negative thing I had to say about the party was the PARKING!! They live on a pretty narrow street and when it's snow covered... forget it. They need to rent out all the neighbors driveways and then put out signs or something. Oh or Valet Parking!! That would be perfect! We got pretty lucky. We had a spot pretty close. Otherwise, it was a complete success. Great food, great people, great house, great hosts. Love you guys!!!

Oh another cool thing... one of the guest had a couple bags of shoes and clothes that were given to her by one of her customers. I guess it was some really rich lady. Ya know, one of those people who only wear things once or buy things and never wear them. She had all these designer shoes that were awesome, designer as in Prada designer, that kinda designer. Of course they were all freaking size 7 1/2! What's up with that shit? I did get a couple of sweaters and a Louis Vitton cell phone holder. NICE!! Plus she said she had more clothes in my size at home and she would get some for me. WOO HOO! Can't beat a Christmas party like that. You go there for the holidays and your goodie bag has SHOES IN IT!! Now that's the way to a girl's heart!

Here's a picture of me in the "SIZE 12" dress I bought for the party. Damn, I look good! Still have a ways to go, but I think that ain't bad!! Feel free to stroke my ego and tell me I look hot! Or at least luke warm! LOL

I've decided that we are technological idiots! LOL

Our friends Tom and Lea gave us a big screen tv a few weeks ago. You'd think, cool, no big deal. Tom set it all up for us and everything. Nope, we've already had to have him come over 3 times to fix it. Once was cause Calli had her feet on the front while watching something and all of a sudden the sound went all crazy (turns out she turned on the surround sound). Then he had to come because some how the picture in picture got turned on and we couldn't figure out how to turn it off. Yesterday was the best of all.

Tuesday night I wanted the kids to clean up some before they went to bed, so I turned off the tv. They cleaned up everything and off they went. I turned the tv back on and it was freaking out. It has all these different set ups. Video 1, Video 2 and so on. It kept flashing from the picture to video 1. I did figure out that if you pushed the input button it would stop, but if you pushed anything on the remote again it would start all over. Very annoying. Then of course John decides he can fix it. After that, we got no picture at all!! LOL

So he comes over last night. He said he'd never heard of that happening, and he's in the business! Only us. So he's messing with it, checking it out, then he calls me in and says, something in the room is interfering. He covers the little thingy on the front and the flashing stops. So we're trying the lights, the tree, the switches, nothing. THEN, he moves the basket that's next to the tv with all the Wii stuff in it and it stops. Turns out that when the kids cleaned up they had put the remote to the old tv in the basket and one of the Wii remotes was pressing on it sending a signal to the tv to go to video 1. ONLY WE could have something so STUPID!!! LOL I told them to never give us anything ever again cause we're too much of a pain in the ass.

I finished making most of the pirogi. I still have some cheese ones to make cause those are my favorite so I bought extra. But the Christmas eve ones are all done. YAY ME. I gave Lea and Tom a batch last night (for their trouble) LOL I can't believe Christmas is next week already. Nick comes home yesterday and says, "Mom, next Tuesday we have an early dismissal and then we have off for a couple of days." I said, "I know Honey. Next week is Christmas." His mouth dropped open. He didn't realize that's why he had off. LOL I wrapped half of the presents last night before I ran out of tape and wrapping paper. I'll run to Walmart later and get some more.

I have to take Nick to the doctor this afternoon. He's been fighting a cold for over a week now. I've still been sending him to school though. Following the rules we grew up on. "If you don't have a fever and your not throwing up, then you go to school." I always hated that rule. LOL So he's had a nasty chest cold and some congestion. Today he woke up crying and said his ear really hurt. I hate that. It's just something you can't do anything to fix. I gave him some tylenol and promised him a doctor's appointment after school. I told him to go to the nurse if it gets too bad. Poor kid. He never gets sick. Of course the one time that he does, it's dragging on forever. Hopefully some antibiotics will kick it out of him.

Ok, off to do more laundry, it's never ending!

Feeling a little better this morning. I have to get to the post office today and drop off a car payment. So I'm glad I can breath a little bit.

I forgot to mention. The guy who emailed me about the van never made contact again (should have known it was to good to be true). Someone else did come yesterday and we sold it for $1,100. Not to shabby considering all the work it needs.

I threw my freaking back out!! UG! Saturday morning I woke up at around 6am with my back killing me. Now, most of you know that I have severe lower back issues, but this is all in my upper/middle back. I stretched a lot and got back to sleep around 7am. When I woke up a couple hours later (weekend) It was still really sore, but I just dealt with it cause I had a lot of stuff to do.

Saturday night it was really bothering me so I took a percocet and went to bed. John had fallen asleep on the couch after I went up. So when I woke up at 4:30am screaming, well, not quite screaming, more like crying loud whimpers cause I couldn't get my breath, I had to make my way down to him for help. It was soooooo bad I couldn't take a breath at all. Just these little tiny inhales. With every one of those I got a horrible stabbing pain. John was trying to hold me and my back just kept spasming. He got me in a hot shower which helped a little bit and then rubbed my back for quite a while. My crying woke up poor Nick at 5am.

I think I finally went back up to bed at around 6 or so and piled all the pillows up so that I was basically sleeping sitting up. I've been pretty much layed out all day today. I called my Mommy and she told me to try ice. That worked pretty good to, along with the Aleve. But I still can't take a good breath at all. Slow and shallow is all I can muster without a stabbing pain. I'd be in bed now except, 1) the Survivor finale is on and 2) I'm afraid that I'll wake up even worse and John won't be here to help me. He's leaving for work at around 2am. I wish I had muscle relaxers. John told me to call Joanne (my sister) to yell at her for moving to FL cause she would have one on hand. lol

I just wish I could breath. UG I was gonna finish off the pirogi today, but that didn't happen. Hopefully this will go away in a day or so and I can do it.

Ok, that's my whine for the day. BLAH. Off to take some drugs and head to bed.

Here are my gorgeous kids again!

Yay! Someone emailed me and offered me $1,500 for the van! I KNOW!! I'm just as shocked as you are!! SOLD, Come and get it. I'm waiting for their call. Hopefully it'll happen soon. Then I can give the money to Lea and cut out a large chunk of what's owed. Now I just have to go clean it all out. YUCK. It's so funny, the van is TRASHED and I'm anal retentive now about the car. "Don't you dare put anything on the floor" "No toys in the car" "NO EATING in the car" It's still spotless. I'm very proud of myself.

I ran to shoprite this morning cause our power was out, I had already folded and put away all the laundry, and painted Calli's nails. LOL Anyway, I got there and they have a fake tree, 7 feet, and pre-lit for $40. Which is what we spend on a real tree. I figured this would be better since we have the puppy and because the tree's in the middle of the room this year, not tucked in a corner like normally, so it's much easier to knock over. It's a little "charlie brown-ish" but it'll do for now. Calli's begging me right now to put it up. I need to eat something first. Haven't done that yet.

Uhm, what else.... The sun finally came out. It's about freaking time! Rain is so depressing. OH!! We went to get the kids pictures taken yesterday for Christmas. My friend took them (she took the fairy pictures) We spent $20 something and got a TON of pictures. Hee Hee, it's good to know people. Now I'm just going to scan one in to do our Christmas cards. Walmart does them for 33 cents a card. WAY cheaper the the picture place. Now I just have to get the scanner to work. When I do, I'll share the pics with you.

Ok, off to eat. TTFN

Due to the disgusting idiot from my prior post, I will no longer be allowing comments to go directly through to the blog. You can leave your comment as usual, but I will have to approve it before it appears on the actual blog.

Sorry to all my normal readers for any inconvenience. One asshole spoils it for everyone. It was not something anyone else should have been subjected to. Everyone else, Please continue to comment. I always like to hear the opinions and thoughts of sane, rational people. (Don't worry all my crazy friends, you're close enough to sane to count!)

To whomever wrote the comment I deleted in the hair loss blog: I did not apreciate 1)the insinuation that I don't take care of my children. 2) That my son would ever do anything that inappropriate or 3) the bald face lie that you put in your comment about something that never did or ever would happen. If it was a joke, it was NOT FUNNY!

Please feel free to NEVER READ OR COMMENT ON MY BLOG AGAIN!

The Christmas Tree Angel

When four of Santa's elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure.
Then Mrs Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more.
When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where.
Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.
Frustrated, Santa went in the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drank all the cider and hidden the rum. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of little glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.
Just then the doorbell rang, and irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, 'Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?'
And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

I'm seriously sad. I'm having severe issues with my hair. I never had a lot to begin with and now it's all falling out. And I mean in CLUMPS! It's gotten so bad that I have to put it up every day otherwise I'm covered in hair. I take a shower and remove a large hamster from the drain on a daily basis. This is not good people. I wont even touch my head anymore cause I can feel how thin it is and I just start crying. I'm taking the vitamins. I'm doing the shakes. I've even started eating protein bars even though some of them are high in sugar just to try and save what's left on my head. You have no idea how hard it is to get 80 grams of protein into your system on a daily basis when your stomach is the size of an egg.

I can not walk around with no hair. I'm afraid to even look to see if I have bald spots now. I can see my scalp already. This is just horrible. HORRIBLE!! I have to go buy some hats and maybe some scarves or something. Of course it sucks that all the holidays are coming and everyone is going to see me. They'll be like, "Oh you've lost so much weight your look wond..... oh what happened to all your hair?" I am NOT OK WITH THIS!!

For my birthday, everyone can chip in and get me a hair replacement. :o(

My beautiful friend Margaret cheered me up yesterday though. She, her husband and her daughter are the most talented family on the planet. (not to mention smart and gorgeous too!) They are all musicians, artists, singers, just talent out the wazoo. Her husband Rhett and their daughter Marea made up a little Christmas Carol. She sent it to me and I'm trying to figure out how to get it on here to share with you. I'm not having much success. I'm waiting for my friend, Blythe in California to wake up. She's a genius when it comes to this stuff and she can usually figure it out for me. Wait until you hear it. It's so cute and you'll be shocked to know that Marea is only 4!! Well, 4 3/4. LOL She and Calli are only 2 months apart. I think? I think she was born when Calli was supposed to be born. End of March? Mid April? Oh I don't know. I'm horrible at that stuff. AAAA HA!! Mid April it is. Wanna know how I know? Yeah, I know you don't care, but tough shit, it's my blog, I'll type it anyway.

I know because I just looked in my drawer and pulled out her birthday invitation from last year. Why do I still have it you ask? Because like I said before, this is the most talented family on the planet and it was the coolest invitation. A picture of Marea dressed as a princess on the back of a unicorn. I'd scan it and put it on here, but I don't want to do that without permission. Some people don't want their kids pictures plastered on the internet. Even the written part inside was amazing. I love this family. Although I learned my lesson to NEVER EVER EVER sing karaoke after Margaret. Make sure you go BEFORE!!! That way when she gets up there and blows people off their seats, you can just be happy. If you go after her, no matter how good your voice is, you might as well be kermit the frog, cause all you're going to be is cute with a boring voice. LOL

Wow, I really went off on a tangent about the Pennell clan. Oh well, it was something to talk about besides my head. As soon as I figure out how to do the song, I'll let you know.

Have a day people.

Damn I'm tired! It's been a crazy few days.

Friday, Nick had a shrink appointment. The good news is that he's doing well and she's happy that I started him on all the vitamins. The bad news... that was the first time she met Calli and of course Calli threw one of her infamous tantrums. The doctor just kept looking at her and asked me a couple of questions. She then basically confirmed that Calli most likely has Asperger's too. Not a banner moment for me, but I guess I was expecting it. I held back the tears.... wow, I'm not now though. I think my mind is back to that, what did I do wrong, phase. I will forever have to realize that I fucked up my kids. Damnit. Ok, deep breath. Anyway, moving on. She said that we wont start her on any meds or even discuss any of that until after we see how she handles school. Girls are usually better than boys. We'll see.

Ok, so after that, we went to the DMV and got all the stuff taken care of for the new car then went and picked it up. YAYAY!! No more climbing over the seats. Oh and Donna... it's got a butt warmer like yours!! LOL So, anyone want a POS Van??? It runs really well. I like it.

Saturday we did a little more dog hunting. I don't know if I mentioned that before. We've been looking at shelters and stuff cause John's been asking for a "real dog". LOL Our Maggie is a tiny thing and he's used to big dogs. Nothing has been really catching his attention and the ones that were had an OUTRAGEOUS adoption fee. It's crazy. Some of them wanted up to $275. That's just insane.

Sunday... Ahhh Sunday. Sunday was a killer. Ok, so back story. Since the beginning of time, Gramma hand made the perogi for Christmas Eve dinner. Which is a large undertaking considering that the kids now have kids and there's a lot of people to feed. Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner consists of breaded and fried fish, perogi and clam chowder. Ham has been added in the last few years. Plus a few odds and ends that unfortunately, I can't remember but they aren't the main focus of dinner.

Since Gramma passed away a few years ago, we have switched to store bought perogi. Which anyone who has had that and home made knows there is NO comparison. But since my Aunt Pat does the holidays at her house and if you remember from my previous post, a Thanksgiving that feeds a small county! We can't expect her to hand make perogis too. That's just way to much for one person.

So this year I decided that I wanted the real thing and I was going to attempt to make them. HA! Ok, so I've tried before and although I can make the filling perfect, I can not make the dough. I told Mom I was going to do it and she volunteered to come and help. Silly Silly woman. LOL So I call her when I'm shopping and say, Aunt Pat says to make about 150. How many potatoes should I buy? She says, oh, 10 pounds should be good. Ok, 10 pounds. Arg! Let me tell you, 10 pounds IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!! LOL

She got here around 10 am and left around 5 pm and we still had half a pot (the huge corn pots) of potato and cheese. We did figure out the dough though!! YAY. And I have to say, I make damn good triangles. I can't say the same for Mom's though. Attention Family: Any funky looking perogis were made by Barbara! Love you Mom and thanks for all the help. We were exhausted by the end of the day. My palms are still killing me from all the rolling and I'm still not done. I figure I'll wait until the pain dies down a little bit before I finish them. We ended up making about 250 of them. HA, anyone hungry??? OH and I made the plain cheese ones this year. We haven't had them since Gramma made them. You can't buy them in a store. They're made with farmer's cheese and were always my favorite.

Today I took Nick for his first appointment with the DAN! doctor (Defeat Autism Now). She's wonderful. I really like her. She said I was doing good with the vitamins and would stick with that. She's having me do a urine test, fecal test and .... blood work (FUCK!!!) I told John we have to do it when he's home cause it takes 6-8 people to hold him down. But the test will give her a lot to work with.

We also talked about Calli and we'll do her workup at the same time as Nick's follow up to get the test results. She said, "She doesn't look healthy". I said I know! That's how she always looks, sallow, pale, dark circles under her eyes. She noticed the distended belly and I mentioned the constant vaginal issues and the begging for food which she said is most likely a yeast build up and the constant food is feeding the yeast. So maybe we'll get both these kids straightened out a little bit. We'll see.

Ok, wow, I can't believe I forgot the worst part!! Stupid me went on Craig's List to look for dogs for john and found him a few. He picked one in Newton to go see. And... CAME HOME WITH IT!! And of course, all this time we've been looking at adult dogs, fully grown, house broken, all that. What does he bring home??? A 15 week old puppy!! Arg. Ok, so he's really cute. They said he is a shepard/pit mix. They had taken a litter of pups from someone who wasn't caring for them and they were left outside all the time. They were giving them away to good homes. He's very sweet and loves Calli to death. He follows her around and lays with her on the couch. Whenever she leaves the room, he just cries. LOL The bad part, of course John works all day. So guess who is house training! ME! Although, I do have to say, Nick has been great. If I'm not in the room and the dog goes on the floor. Nick puts him outside AND CLEANS IT UP!! How awesome is that!! I'm very proud of him. So now we have the two cats, Mocha and Muffin, and our Maggie so I told John he had to have an M name. So now we have a Mason.

Like I don't have enough to do!

Well, we weren't on Rachel all that much yesterday. You did here my UG! and her look at me and say "RIGHT?" but they cut the rest out. And then the only time you saw us is the last minute we were there before she did her cooking at the end. It was a really good shot of all 4 of us though.

Still thinking about the day care thing. And Mom, I did check the laws for NJ and actually, I can take up to 5 kids (not including my own). The car situation is a concern. But you have to figure, most day cares have more kids than they can tote around. If there is an emergency (knock on wood there wouldn't be - although, with Callihan around...... hmmm) I figure, you call and ambulance, then I call a friend to stay with the kids. I also figure, that if I do this, we'll make twice as much money as when I was at work. We could pay off our debt and then maybe save up for another van. After the holidays, I'm going to put a couple adds out there and see what I get.

As for MK, I know it's there waiting for me, but I can't wrap my head around that like you can. I can't see asking people to spend money on that when right now most people can't pay their bills. I'm sure I'll always be a MK lady, but not right now. I love you though!! Call me, we'll have a play date!

I've got a bunch of lots of clothes on Ebay right now. All size 18 if anyone is interested. Laura, no worries, you have your own pile! I still have so much more to do. I hate putting things on ebay, it's such a pain in the ass, but I like the money!!

Ok, off to shower. I have a ton of running to do today. Work out, gymnastics, pick up car paperwork, DMV, dress drop off for Shelly, home, and then car swap. Crap, I just thought of something really important that I had to do and then it went POOF! OH NO! I hate when that happens. (like daily!) Uhm,.... uh.... Oh I don't know. I hope I think of it. TTFN

Morning Folks.

Weight Check - 190!! Looks like I'm doing about 5 pounds a week. If that holds, I should be at my goal weight by my birthday (Feb. 7th). Happy Birthday to me!! I'm hoping to surpass my goal by about 15 pounds since there is a little bit of a gain back. I want that leeway.

Tomorrow I'm going to pick up my new car. THANK GOD!! We're buying it from Tim's sister. John's Dad checked it all out and gave us a green light. And thankfully they are happy to take payments. No more climbing over the seats or worrying that the wheels are going to fall off on the highway! Woo Hoo!!

We'll be on Rachel Ray Today!!

I know, I'm the worst blogger ever. Sorry.

Let's see. Thanksgiving went really well. Dinner at my Aunt's as usual. It was a smaller crowd this year. Only around 35 people. LOL It was all yummy of course, but I was very sad and depressed because I only got down about 4 bites before I was full and couldn't eat anymore. I swear I was gonna cry sitting at the table watching everyone stuff their faces and I couldn't. So depressing. I did take home a big plate of food that I've been munching on.

Friday, I was one of those insane people who got up at the crack of dawn and went shopping. I got almost everything I needed and the kids are done except for one thing for Calli. I didn't go overboard either, so I'm pretty proud of myself. The only thing I got that wasn't on sale was this stupid doll that Calli wanted that actually swims in water. Damn thing was like $35! UG. Oh well. It was on the top of her list.

My biggest fear was that I didn't get enough for Nick. Calli is so easy to buy for that I always seem to get more for her than for him. But once I unloaded everything, it was pretty even. He may have even had a little bit more.

We're going to get the car checked out tonight. Hopefully all is well with it and we can buy it. It's our friend Tim's sister's car. I can't wait to be able to get into the car from the driver's side (and out too!) That will be so nice. Driving around this weekend, I swear half the time we thought the front wheel was just gonna fall right off. Scary.

OH, I gave myself a little holiday present. I paid off our Walmart cards. They'd been in collections forever and I used to get calls from them at least (no joke) 15 times a day. Drove me insane. They sent us settlement letters and I was able to pay them off at 30% what we owed. Totally worth it. YAY ME!

So I'm thinking that I don't want to go back to work, no surprise there. Of course John HATES that idea. I was thinking of seeing if I could get some kids here and do daycare in the house. I believe that as long as you have no more than 5 kids that you don't need a licence. 5 kids X $200 a week.... that's more than I was making in the corporate world. Although, I don't know if I would take 5! LOL We'll see. I'll put an add on Craig's List and see what happens.

Today is a laundry and ebay day, so I need to get to it. TTFN

OH WAIT... Mark your calendars. This Wednesday!! We will again be on the Rachel Ray show. And when she shows the wreath and they say how much it is, I'm the one who makes the weird noise that she talks too! Hee Hee!!