Home and Garden Show, Then Super Woman in the Yard

There was a home and garden show happening this weekend down at the fairgrounds.  I usually love going because they have a big garage like area and Rubbermaid fills it with all their plastic goodness and discounts the heck out of it!  I hadn't been for probably two years because a lot of times, the weather is pure crap.  Saturday, it was raining/ hailing/ snowing/ sleeting all day.  It was SUPER cold and just nasty.  Sunday was 70s and sunny.  Perfect day for the home and garden show!  We had a lot of fun and I was pleasantly surprised how big it had gotten since the last time we went.  L got to plant a sunflower seed and to take a marigold home with us.  He also got a balloon which he, oops, let go of and screamed for 15 minutes straight about, even after my mom got him a new one.  I know it sounds like I am meanie mom, but it really was all quite funny.  Aside from the balloon meltdown, we had a really nice morning!

Yesterday was SO beautiful.  I really couldn't let this wonderful day go by without getting some yard work done.  And A had plenty to do outside as well.  While L and A were in the house sleeping, I went out and started the area in front of our deck.  I am not exaggerating when I say that I have never weeded this area the whole six years I've lived here.  Well, at least not completely weeded it.  Climbing the wall and through the lilac bushes up there does not make the task easy.  While I was working on that, A and L did eventually come outside.  A started trimming our bushes and small trees at the front of the house.  When I finished the bed in front of the deck, I had this idea I was going to go inside and start dinner (I really only should be weeding and such for an hour/ hour and a half with my dang shoulder).  I went out front and saw how much there was to do, so I started picking up sticks (A thinks it's not big thing to mow over these HUGE sticks in our yard and it drives me nuts!)  The front flower bed hadn't been raked in years and the leaves were so thick, when I finally got to the dirt it was a nice, rich dark brown.  I got about 3/4 of the raking part done and I started to edge the flower bed a little as well.  Then came my least favorite part of yard work....cleaning up all the piles of stuff I just pulled out!  Ew!  We worked till at least 8pm.  I felt really bad for L because he kept begging us to go on a walk with him, so finally I caved and he drove his little 4wheeler while I walked a ways down the road. Here are some pic (I wish I wouldn't have been too embarrassed to take before pictures, just assume it was REALLY bad...because it was!):

 Here is all of my plants I've started indoors, I have added some since the last time I took pictures!

 All the stuff we collected in trash bags, there was another pile that was just as big if not bigger, but I figured no one was super interested in seeing bags and bags of trash.

 Here are the bushes A whacked off....yikes!  I hate to say that they are better than they were, but sadly, they are!

 This is what L considers "walking".  I finally succumbed to his insistent begging to go for a walk and found out quickly, a walk to him was completely different what a walk to me is!  Hahahaha!

 Front yard

 Side of house

Side of the house

 Along the side of the steps from the deck

In front of the deck

Coupons and Lost Wedding Rings

I think I have officially lost my wedding rings (my engagement and wedding ring are soldered together...I lost this and my anniversary ring I wear on my right hand)  For some reason, I hate wearing my rings to bed, so I take them off every night.  The problem is, I take them off all over the house so it's always a treat finding them.  And if I don't find them before L gets up, well, it's any one's game then!  I have to think this is what happened.  A said he saw them on the coffee table last.  Hmm...after tearing apart the whole family room and my bedroom I still haven't found them.  We asked L where he would have put them, but he used it as an opportunity to open all kinds of drawers he's normally not allowed in, in attempt to find where we hide the candy!  Tricky little dude!  To say he's smart, might be an understatement.  He knows exactly how to work the system.  Thankfully, I have them insured (see?  There are some benefits to working for an insurance company!!)  However, we've been known to use our personal articles policy a little bit (like three broken phones and a camera), so I am fairly certain should we turn a claim in for my rings, the policy will probably end up getting cancelled.  If we can not lose or break the few things left on this particular policy for three years, we can always get it again!  Hahaha!  Dang me and my ditsy mind!  Ugh.  If I get new rings, I am absolutely going to have to figure out some sort of secret spot to put them when I go to bed.

I don't consider myself an "extreme couponer" by any means, but I don't do too bad.  Haha!  Couponing is a ridiculous amount of work.  We don't have many places in our area that double coupons, so a lot of time, I look through all the ads and go to Walmart to price match.  One of my mom's friend, bless her heart, sends a
HUGE pile of coupons every few weeks home with my mom.  I have a really sweet coupon binder A bought me for Christmas, (always so practical!!) but honestly, I have gotten so far behind in cutting out coupons it's just use less.  Anyhow, today I decided to wade through gigantic pile of coupons and just cut out what I thought I might buy (or definitely would buy).  I went shopping to Walmart today (this may be my only chance to go shopping without L...A doesn't have the patience for coupons and L shopping!).  I didn't do any price matching, but I used all my coupons and saved about $24!!  I was really excited.  Not too shabby for sure.  I feel like, had I price matched, I would have really rocked it.  Oh well....$24 is a really decent savings...definitely better than nothing!  Someday, I may really become an amazing couponer, but for now I'm cool with where I am at!

UPDATE:  Still searching all around the house for those dang rings.  For the life of me, I just can't imagine where they took off to.  This is clearly becoming more and more an obsession for me.  I can't stop looking for them....they have to be in the house somewhere.  I know I can get new rings...even ones that are very similar if not the same, but it just doesn't have the same sentimental value.  The diamond in my engagement ring is one we purchased while on a cruise in Mexico (thank God I still have my original diamond...it was turned into a pendant).  I also had a small diamond added to the attached wedding band.  My ring had been customized to suit me.   I know I can get the exact same anniversary ring because it was from Kay Jewelers,  but that was the gift A gave me for our first anniversary.  Ugh.  I am feeling super frustrated!

UPDATE:  4/30/12 Still no rings!  Ugh.  I went to White Jewelers where A originally purchased my ring to look around and get a feel for things.  Am I the only one who thinks that selling the setting and diamond separately is annoying?  So there are a lot of things I am debating....#1 replace everything I lost...engagement ring, wedding ring, and anniversary ring.  #2 getting only an engagement ring and not a wedding band and then getting my anniversary ring OR #3 getting an engagement ring and wedding ring and NOT buying an anniversary ring.  #1 and #3 sound like the best options so far.  With #3, I would have the ability to wear some of my "second string" rings that I usually opt for my anniversary ring over.  I have a beautiful blue diamond ring that could easily take the seat of my right ring finger. Hmmm...at first I was kind of excited to have the chance to buy more jewelry, but as I started looking, I am left kind of missing my old rings.

Open Door Policy and Last Night's Dinner

I am sure there will be plenty of times I write whiny blog posts, but today, I feel like writing about something more positive.  Not having A around during the evening sucks because we don't have a lot of family time together, but it allows me a chance to hang with my girls whenever I want.  Since I've become domesticated (ha!), my house has become an amazing place for my friends and even my mom's friends to come and hang out.  I jokingly call it the "Lonely Girls Club".  We eat dinner, we do crafts, we talk out our problems, and de-stress.  I love that everyone feels comfortable in my house and they know that they are all welcome any time.  We have all been through so much together.  We've eaten our way through a few divorces, abusive spouses, break-ups, stressful kids, etc...  We have celebrated birthdays, new jobs, new relationships and the bond we share as friends.  We have tie dye days in the summer and make Christmas gifts in the winter.  Whether it's around my dining room table or on my deck, we have always have fun!  The kids usually like coming over too because L has SOOO many toys!

It's so cool, my mom knows she's always welcome to invite her friends (I consider most of her friends as my family anyway!)  When my friends plan a get together for all of us, it's always implied it will be at my house.  I love it!  It makes me feel so special!  It is an amazing feeling that everyone feels welcome and at home in my house.  To me, the more people, the better.  Having a full house is so satisfying to me.  I tend to make enough food to feed an army, so having a lot of mouths to feeds is great.  And if there are leftover, I send food home with everyone!  Having a full house and yummy food...what more could you ask for??  I'm so lucky to have such great friends! 

Speaking of yummy food....I made stuffed peppers for the first time last night!  They turned out really good for my first try!  I didn't really have a recipe, so I looked online and found a few that sounded good.  I didn't use just one recipe, I took a little bit from each.  Here is the recipe I came up with (be forewarned, I didn't use exact measurements of the spices and such, I added to taste):

Stuffed Green Peppers

5 Green Peppers (I had purchased 6, but only 5 fit in my crock pot)
1 1/2lbs of ground turkey
1 cup cooked brown rice
chopped onions
garlic
salt
pepper
oregano
basil
parsley
cheese (I used a shredded Italian mix)
1 jar of pasta sauce
tomato juice

Cut the tops off the peppers (I used a little of the top chopped up in the meat mix and saved the rest for another meal) and clean out the inside.  In a bowl, I mixed the turkey, rice, onions, cheese and all of the spices to taste.  Fill the peppers with the turkey mix.  I LOVE the crock pot liners and almost never cook without them, so I lined my crock pot and put the stuffed peppers in.  In a small bowl, I mixed the jar of pasta sauce and a little tomato juice as well as some of all of the spices.  I poured it over the peppers, topped it with a little bit of cheese and cooked it on the 6 hour setting (one setting below the highest) and cooked them for 4-5 hours. 

They turned out really well...I definitely found I needed a little more salt (I'm notorious for under salting) and the sauce was runny (the tomato juice), but I liked it runnier so that didn't bother me.

Needing Good Vibes Sent to My Shoulder

I know this is my second entry today, but I figured recipe entries don't entirely count (and I happen to be extremely windy and always have something to talk about!) 

Tuesday I am going to see a new surgeon about my shoulder.  I've mentioned a little previously of my shoulder woes, but I didn't really go into too much depth.  My first surgery on my shoulder was in 1999.  The Dr. thought I might benefit from a newer procedure.  He went in laparscopic and basically heated my ligaments up in an attempt to make them tighten up.  This surgery was an epic fail, it actually made my shoulder worse.  Six months later I went in for another surgery.  This one involved opening my shoulder up and doing some cut and pasting to tighten it.  This surgery took really well.  I felt almost 100% better for five year, then I started loosing up again.  In 2005, I had one more laparscopic surgery to do a little more tightening.  The Dr. was really careful with me and my physical therapy because he didn't want it to loosen up again.  I had the surgery in April, but the end of December I still hadn't gotten any motion back in it.  So we decided to do a manipulation which is where you are put to sleep and the Dr. moves your shoulder in attempt to break up any scar tissue causing problems.  It worked and I got all my motion back, however the pain has never left.  Seven years later, here I am.  I have tried various methods of pain management in the past 7 years.  Countless injections and nerve blocks, physical therapy, biofeedback, tons of pain meds, and I even had a neurostimulator implanted in my spinal cord. 

Recently, I have come up against a big problem.  My original shoulder Dr. refuses to do anything more for me.  He is afraid that it will just make it worse (he could be right).  I've gone to two different pain management doctors in the past 6 years and my current one told me a few months ago that he isn't comfortable just prescribing me pain meds without me doing injections or whatever.  I was actually completely floored by this.  I left the office crying I was so upset.  I mean, I need a pain management doctor for the very least to help with the maintenance of my spinal cord stimulator.  I had called the reps for company who makes my stimulator and wanted to set up an appointment with them to get readjusted and they said my Dr. wouldn't let them do it without him being in the office.  Needless to say, I was left feeling set adrift with no real help with pain management.  I understand that being on narcotic pain meds for the rest of my life is going to slowly kill me and my organs will shut down.  I also get that it's difficult as a Dr. to just keep giving pills because the DEA monitors everything and ideally a patient would be getting better and no longer needing pain management.  But how can a doctor whose title is to help you manage your pain leave you hanging out to dry and in pain?  I had an appointment with my internist not long after all these and asked him if he could refer me to a new shoulder doctor.  He asked around and found me this doctor I will be seeing May 1.  At one point, my previous shoulder doctor had mentioned in passing that maybe having my ligaments replaced with cadaver ligaments could be a good option for me (I am under the understanding...FINALLY....that the reason I am in so much pain is because my ligaments are basically non existent.  Between the first surgery I had and my Ehlers Danlos, my ligaments are completely worn out).  I called the new doctor's office (Dr. S) and his staff told me he didn't do second opinions and he didn't really meet with patients he strictly did surgery.  Ugh, why is everything so difficult?  So anyway, I made an appointment with his assistant (I call him the gate keeper Dr. hahaha).  I saw him in March.  It was a pretty interesting appointment.  At first he acted like he didn't know what Ehlers Danlos was.  Then, he acted like he didn't believe me and ran my mom and I through a bunch of tests.  Finally, when we convinced him we did indeed have Ehlers Danlos, he had us do our tricks and told us he has a cousin who has it too.  It was all pretty funny actually.  This was the first time in six years that I had a doctor listen to me.  He decided that I would indeed benefit from meeting with Dr. S.  I have waited for this appointment for a month and a half (calling every week to see if there was any cancellations).  I am half excited and half nervous for this appointment. I am scared to get my hope up.  I haven't had any luck with other Drs I've seen.  If the ligament replacement surgery is something that might be viable option for me, then I have to have more surgery (duh, right?)  Maybe he will have some other ideas that will be better.  If I need surgery, when will I get it done?  Soon?  If I have it soon all my gardening and yard work will be in vain.  If I have it later, it could interfere with my vacation.  I am trying to decide if it's worth doing it before July 1st because my insurance is paying 100% right now (that is, if the Dr. can even get me in before then) or would it be smarter for me to just wait till after July 1 and our vacation and after this surgery my insurance will cover everything 100% again for the rest of the year (till the end of June).  I guess I am putting the cart before the horse.  I don't know if he can even help me.  I shouldn't stress just yet.  Hahaha...so much easier said then done!  It would be absolutely amazing if he could find something that may help me.  I don't know if I can live like this forever. 

Yummy Dinner!

Just to add one more of the many things I may blog about, I thought it'd be fun to add some recipes that my family and I enjoy.  Three years ago, I'd never even remotely be able to blog about cooking because I literally did almost none.  Becoming a mother has GREATLY improved my domestic skills. Actually, I am a really good cook.  On a kind of funny side note, my whole family loves to razz on me about how I suck at cooking and am an awful housekeeper (well, how I WAS both a crappy cook and housekeeper).  My mom is endless trying to stand up for me about this with everyone else.  Mainly because she is the only one that reaps all my cooking goodness.  Anyhow, a few weekends ago, we had my brother and his family and my aunt and uncle came over for lunch.  A made some ridiculously yummy shish kabob (which I cut up all the veggies for him...hey I want a little credit!) and I made my mom's famous macaroni salad (dang...just thinking about it makes me hungry for it).  We had some corn on the cob and a fruit salad my mom brought.  I also made this amazing oreo pudding for dessert.  I think everyone left completely shocked at how good the food was (my sister in law later texted me she couldn't get the macaroni salad out of her head it was so good and my brother raved to my mom how yummy everything was).  It was really nice to have a chance to prove myself!  One of my year goals was to clean the basement and it actually looks really good now.  Anyway, my sister in law has never been allowed in my basement because it was SOOOO bad and I was super embarrassed.  She finally got to see it when they came too.  Add to the good food and clean basement, I was almost finished with clearing out the garden area....needless to say, I think my brother was SUPER impressed.  It felt really good.  In the past, I've definitely had my lazy moments, but I am proud of how far I've come and it's always nice to be appreciated for it!

OK, that was a huge aside there....sorry.  Back to my dinner last night.  Every now and again, I pick up little packets of seasonings to try.  Usually, they are just so-so, but recently I picked up a McCormick gourmet Garlic and White Wine Chicken Scaloppine mix and followed the directions on the back and it was really tasty.  I did make a few alterations to the recipe...it calls for mushrooms, but I'm not a huge mushroom lover so I substituted asparagus...it also said you could use water or chicken broth, I usually chose chicken broth because it adds more flavor.  The directions say that you should use chicken breasts and cut them in half to make them thinner.  I had bought some chicken on sale a bit ago that is cut up like chicken fingers.  These worked really well because I didn't have to do any prep on the chicken.  I'm not kidding, this was a really great dinner and it was SOOOO easy!  I was in my flower bed till 5:45pm last night and I had dinner on the table by 6:10pm.  I would absolutely recommend this seasoning packet and the recipe on the back.  I would imagine if you didn't like mushrooms or asparagus, you could probably substitute broccoli or zucchini.
Here's a picture:

I LOVE Reading!!!

I am going to take a few minutes to gush about my favorite authors.  First let me explain what I enjoy reading.  Kudos to my friends who love reading biographies and nonfiction, but for me...no thanks!  I much prefer to read fiction.  I love books that take me somewhere other than my life!  I like a good mixture of scifi (vampires, ghosts, ESP, etc), mystery, and love in my books. 

A few of my favorite authors are Charlaine Harris, Stephen King, Dean Kootz, Iris Johansen, Sandra Brown, Kay Hooper, Tami Hoag, John Grisham, Lisa Jackson, and Laurell K Hamilton.  There are definitely a lot of other authors I enjoy reading as well, but these are the few I noticed I had the most books from.

Charlaine Harris is an author I can never get enough from.  I love the Sookie Stackhouse series ridiculously, but the Harper Connelly, Lily Bard, and Aurora Teagarden series are really awesome too!  One of the many things I love about her writing is it has some bits of a love story in it, it's about supernatural things, and they can be really serious or really funny all at the same time.  Another thing that's great is that though it's totally fantasy, the characters are believable.  The relationships of the characters aren't all perfect with hearts and flowers.  I actually really don't like reading only about undying love and romance.  It just has such a hollow ring to it.  I will be very sad when the Sookie Stackhouse series is finished.  However, for now, I will just jump in excitement for the new book to be released on May 1 (already got it pre-ordered on my Nook!)

Dean Koontz is the one author I have followed religiously from high school till now.  There is a very good chance that I have read almost every book he has written.  He was my hands down favorite author for years.  One of the things that I have always loved about his books are that the end is always happy.  Or mostly happy.  You can guarantee that the main characters will live and the problem will be resolved.  Sometimes, knowing everything will work out by the end of the book is so comforting. 

Unlike Dean Koontz, with Stephen King you never really know how the end will turn out in his books.  Stephen King is a phenomenal writer with an imagination that blows my mind.  To live in his head would be both fascinating and frightening.  This past winter, I went on a Stephen King binge and finally read a bunch of his popular books that I hadn't read before.  I also caught up with a few of my favorites.  I believe my favorite book by Stephen King is still "Salem's Lot".  It was my favorite back in high school too (see I loved vampires long before they became so cool!)

Throughout the years, I have amassed a huge collection of Iris Johansen's books.  I know there has to be an order to her Eve Duncan books, but I seem to never quite get the timeline and have read them all out of order.  Someday, I will figure it out and read them all in succession (you can see my obsessive compulsive tendencies coming out).

Kay Hooper started off writing love stories, but she has this amazing series called the Bishop series.  So far there are 11 books, I believe.  I have every one of them.  I've really enjoyed this series and hope to here more from her soon as she hasn't written much in the last years.  The series is about a paranormal division of the FBI.  All of the agents have some sort of extra sense like being a medium or having ESP.  The books are all about how they use their gifts to solve crimes.  They really are great books.  She also wrote a two book series called "Once a Thief" and "Always a Thief".  These two books are about a world famous thief named "Quinn".  They are light hearted and a lot of fun to read.

Just recently, within the last year or two, I started reading all of Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series.  A long time ago, I purchased one of the books in this series not realizing it was the 7th or so book in the series.  I really enjoyed it, but I guess I didn't seek out the rest of the books right away.  The series is about Anita Blake who is a vampire hunter and raises the dead.  She solves crimes and tends to the politics of the vampire and shifter community.  Later in the series, she also becomes a succubus.  Admittedly, after this turn of events, the books become a bit sexually graphic (OK, a bit is a gross understatement), but the books still are quite fascinating and an enjoyable read.

I really do love reading.  I love that you can find yourself in a whole different world.  Reading has always been a favorite past time of mine and it's the perfect way to relax.  For those of you that know me, you also know that I am ridiculously fast reader.  I am also extremely anal and won't start a new book till the last is finished.  I also feel the need to read every book in a series and/ or every book by any such author.  Clearly, I put a lot of thought into this hobby!  Hahaha!  If you like the genre of books I read, feel free to ask for some suggestions, I have lots of favorites to chose from, as well as feel free to give me any new ideas.  I'm always looking for the next great book!!! 

This series is so good.  It's fun, suspenseful, and sexy! 

Discipline

I don't know when disciplining a child became SO gosh darn difficult.  I am willing to admit that some of our problems have to do with L and some definitely have to do with ME and A isn't fault free.  So yes, we all have our faults, but I think a lot of our problem is society.  There are so many dang studies about what you should do, what you shouldn't do, how to completely ruin your child (haha), etc.  It's so freaking frustrating.  I figure there are quite a few parents out there that don't really see how difficult all this is because discipline has never really been a problem for them.  But when you have a difficult, "spirited" child, discipline can be life changing....for the good or the bad.  To say we've tried all different kinds of discipline methods would be an understatement.  I have had it with all these dumb books that tell you that their way is the best and the only way to do it and of course, putting it into practice is a completely different ball of wax. 

Yesterday was our family appointment with my therapist.  It went a lot better than I anticipated.  A was super grumpy about going, but he seemed to get into once we got there.  It was definitely a kind of all over the place type of appointment.  We talked about potty training and L's penchant for letting loose on our carpets (#1 and #2...fun) and what we should with L when he does this (by the way, she thinks he should clean up his own mess which in theory is great, but in practice not so great because he thinks it is a blast).  We talked about time outs, bedtime issues (though we really didn't get much help there...benedryl.  Really?  Like we haven't tried that! Haha!), and just general L-isms.  She did mention bipolar disorder again today and to A.  I can't help but cringe at the idea of prematurely diagnosing a three year old with bipolar.  She has said repetitively that she wouldn't be quick to make this call,  but still, it's pretty jarring to hear it.  When I am using my brain rather than my heart, she has makes some fair points that really can't be ignored.  Granted, a lot of the "symptoms" (I am still not sure I believe it is something organically wrong with L or just his personality) could work for other issues such as ADHD. 

So anyway, in an attempt of taking advice from the lady we pay to give us advice, we tried to implement time outs again....sure enough we got some practise this morning.  L woke up telling me that that he peed in his potty (in attempts to keep from having lots of accidents, we put a little potty in his room) and wanted a treat.  UGH.  I hate this whole "pee get a treat" stuff.  Thanks A for getting him started on it!  Anyway, he said he wanted a treat and gum.  I, begrudgingly, told him he could have one or the other.  He picked gum.  He put his treat on the table for "later" (aka when he swallows his gum).  I put the treat away because he picked his choice.  He started whining and getting crazy about the dang treat.  I told him "no".  He went and sat on the potty and squeezed out three drops of pee and demanded his treat again.  Um, yeah, so NOT the way to get a treat.  So he threw himself on the floor yelling and screaming, banging his head on the floor.  I quiet and calmly said "1......2......3, time for a break".  I picked him up and put him in the chair in our bedroom.  He screamed bloody murder.  I finally let him go.  A asked L what he wanted for breakfast and AGAIN, he went on and on about the dang treat and didn't want breakfast.  Finally, A yelled, screamed, etc and put him in time out again.  He cried nonstop, but there was a small break in the crying about 3 minutes into sitting there, so I went in and told him he could get up.  Well, I have no clue why that bothered him so much, but he proceeded to yell and scream even MORE, threw himself all over the house and kicked the basement door like his life depended on it as I left for work.  Swear to God, I could hear him screaming outside!  Yeah, I am totally seeing time outs as a great tool for discipline.  UGH.  So something that should have calmed him down and defused the situation instead got him more hyped up and turned into a 45 minute scream fest.  Crap.  Will this EVER get easier??????????

I really don't remember it being this hard for our parents.  They'd beat us and we'd live in fear of getting in trouble or disappointing our parents.  And we turned out really great.  Neither A nor I have ever been in trouble.  We've never even tried drugs and we barely drank.  We did mostly well in school (well, I can at least speak for myself).  We turned out to be decent adults with a sense of responsibility and moral beliefs.  Obviously, spanking didn't ruin us.  It didn't smash our self esteem or lead us to a life of crime.  A and I turned out to be productive adults.  Seriously, in this day and age, what more could you really ask for?  Sadly, spanking L hasn't really proved effective either.  Dang kid (by the way, there is a good chance this comes out of my mouth literally at least daily! Hahaha)!!!!!  So ultimately, we are pretty much back at square one with barely any good ideas to help us along the way.  The therapist suggested that I speak slower (if you know me, you know that this is asking an awful lot out of this motormouth....ok, even if you don't know me, you are reading this, I imagine you get the idea....) and to try and not get anxious (definitely something I could *try* and work on, but again, this really is just a part of my personality that makes up the wonderfulness that is Maggie).  All of these things sound like reasonable ideas to try knowing full well, it probably won't work.  Maybe it will help me anyway....I'd take that in the very least!  Any suggestions?  Anyone else have a child like this that have some practical advice??  I'm open to most advice!

Tattoos, No Sleep, Crazy Kid, and Being an Adult....

What a weekend....I am SO glad it's over!  I don't know what flipped the switch on L this weekend, but he has decided that it's been he's been way too quiet and sleeping WAY TOO much.  Saturday night, A and I went to a reverse raffle with his parents and my mom watched L.  We had a lot of fun and my mom said that L was great, went to bed fine, not a single cry or tantrum.  We thought everything was fine, but he was up nonstop on Saturday night.  Sunday he woke up screaming and proceeded to do the same the rest of the day.  Good stuff.  Of course, because he didn't sleep at night, he didn't take a nap.  And the screaming went on thru the rest of the evening.  We got him ready for bath early.  He fought me nonstop to go to bed.  Finally, he quieted down around 9:00pm and we thought we were doing alright.  45 minutes later, he was up screaming bloody murder.  I went in to check on him and he was completely wrapped up in his blankets.  Got him back to sleep again and he was up again at midnight.  I was too exhausted to even check on him, but he finally fell asleep.  I have no idea if he woke up after that because I took enough meds to get me to sleep really good.  I was so tired.  I am praying to God that we aren't starting another one of his crazy, insane cycles.  We have been doing good for a little while now, dare I say, longer than ever.  Tonight, we are going to my therapist as a family.  Should be interesting.  I started going to a therapist around a month ago to help me deal with L.  Clearly, what I am doing isn't working, so I figured seeing a family therapist might help me learn different ways to deal with my little spirited child.  I brought L with me for the first time last week and he was, of course, a little angel.  Hahaha.....go figure.  The therapist thinks a part of it might be that he is really intelligent.  Tonight will absolutely be fascinating.  Maybe she has some getting to bed and staying in bed tips.  Needless to say, I am feeling really happy that I am working all day today!  Hahahah!

Amongst the kicking and screaming of Sunday, I was bored and decided to go on a Pinterest binge.  I got to looking at tattoos and think I have a pretty good idea of what I want my next one to be.  I know, I know...I really don't need another one, but if I get one, I'm going to get one in all white ink.  I can't shake the thought of getting a tattoo in the inside of my wrist, but I worry about having to see it all the time and being really obvious.  A white tattoo seems the perfect solution.  It mostly looks like little scars.  I have tons of scars, why not make my own pretty scars?  I'd like a few little flying birds or something like that.  Definitely bird related.  For no real reason, but I find bird tattoos so COOL!  Now I have to do a little more researching to see who does white ink tattoos and save a little money to do it! 

Every now and again I have these moments where I just can't get over the fact that I am an adult.  Am I the only one that experiences this?  I mean, I've been an "adult" for a decent amount of time now, you'd think by now I'd be used to it.  But I still have these moments.  I actually still have moments where it feels completely surreal that I am a mother too.  A lot of times, I look at my life and and wonder if this is all.  Is this everything?  It just seems like day in and day out, I do the same things.  Once a year, we go on vacation and do the same things there.  In some senses, it's nice and comforting to know what will happen tomorrow.  But it's also really depressing and seems like there isn't much to look forward to.  I apologize for being so down and out, but sometimes, it just is what it is.  These feelings usually coincide with L's cycle and my pain levels.  We had a really big dip in temperature this weekend.  And it's super windy.  Both of which amp up my pain level to taking the max prescribed pain meds rather than the few I usually take.  This causes me to be grouchy cause I hurt like crazy and super tired because the pain pills and muscle relaxer make me tired.  Add to that, L and his no sleeping and constant crying and things get out of hand at a really fast pace.  I know that I am the adult and parent (yeah, duh right?) and need to be able to keep my crap together for L's sake, but it really is SO hard when everything is coming down around your ears at the same time.  UGH.  I really hate when this starts happening.  It's so exhausting and I don't like being down on everything.  I realize that I have the power to change how I feel about all of this, but it's so hard and I just get so tired with all this pain.  I am really hoping a visit with the therapist will snap us out of this cycle before it really gets bad.  I'm also kind of glad Aaron is coming too, so he can validate what happens!  Alright, gonna stop writing depressing stuff! 

I don't have much to write about so far today....so I will just put some more pictures up.  I cracked the whip on my mom and made her help me paint the rest of the rocks.  They all turned out SO cute! Love it!  The last picture is as close as I can get to a BEFORE picture of my garden space.  I had already started ripping stuff out, but you get the idea.  Oh...by the way....came home last night to the garden tilled as well as some of my flower beds and other various places!!!  Bravo hubby!  I was really excited! 

My Garden and Goals

Maybe not the most exciting topic to some...a garden.  I am pretty proud of my garden so far.  Granted, there isn't even a single plant in it yet.  But that's what I am so proud of so far...hahahaha!  I took this flower bed that was overgrown completely by tons of ground cover that was so ratty and gross looking and pulled the whole lot out.  It took me about two weeks to do, working an hour at a time here and there.  I am hoping to go home to a tilled garden today.  I asked the neighbor to borrow his rototiller and I told my husband to get 'er done!  I've started quite a few plants from seeds.  I bought a few plants as well.  Mostly because I don't have enough room for everything in my bay window seat.  I've made a list of all of the veggies/ herbs I am planting.  I have a few flowers I started by seed too, but I don't think I've been super successful with them.  I believe I am going to put the veggies in the garden and the herbs will go in the flower bed.  I will have lettuce, beans, zucchini, tomatoes, asparagus, garlic, broccoli, onions, peppers, hot peppers, parsley, oregano, and basil.  It sounds like a ton, but I just wanted to dabble in everything.  I also wanted to make sure that I mostly growing things that I use regularly.  The big ones being zucchini, asparagus, basil and garlic. 

This garden is one of the many lofty goals that I decided I was going to hold myself to this year.  I don't really consider them new year resolutions, but more things I want to get done in 2012.  Same thing, I suppose.  But "resolutions" sound so easy to just forget about and not follow through with.  I love that everything I am accomplishing, I have a set order in which to do them and I have a time table set up.  Some of these goals are:

Clean the basement (yes, I admit, that place was a hell hole and I was embarrassed for anyone to see it)
Make a garden
Garage sale
Work on jewelry
Potty train L
Print out all digital photos
Organize digital pics in albums
Make a mobile
Sew more

Those are a few of them.  Some I have accomplished, others will constantly be worked on.  I tried to make them all things that I can do on my own mostly and things that I know are within my capabilities.  I've added a few things to do it that I wouldn't mind doing as well, such as making a terrarium.  This seems to be a perfect thing to do more towards fall/ winter.  I love the idea of having different things I strive to do at each time of year.  Definitely more of the craftier things will wait until fall/ winter when we will be looking for cool indoor projects.  And cleaning the basement, garage sale, garden, etc are more spring/ summer activities.  I also love the feeling of crossing something off your list.  It's such a satisfying feeling.  I have to admit, submitting this list the world wide web is slightly terrifying.  Now I really have to my hold myself to these goals.  Clearly, just one more amazingly exciting topics I will get to cover in my blog!  ;)

The picture above are of my garden area and below is my veggie farm!  Hahahaha!!

Every Scar Tells a Story

As something I think about at least once a day, my medical issues are a big part of me.  A warning: this probably isn't going to be a completely upbeat exciting post or a short one, but I figure, in order to understand me and get something out of my blog, maybe I ought to discuss some of the things that I deal with daily.  My medical crap definitely sets the tone for the chaos of my life.  I have had two main and defining medical issues.  One is ongoing, one is, thankfully and hopefully, a memory in the past, although, admittedly, it comes to the forefront of my mind more often than I care to admit.

When I thought of writing a blog, I've contemplated many different paths it could take (as I discussed yesterday).  One of path was being an outlet for me to discuss everything I have gone through.  Maybe giving inspiration to others who have similar experiences.  I've always thought that there had to be a reason I was still kicking.  So with that...let's get into the exciting medical history of ME!  Hahahaha (yes, feel free to cringe!)

I am a cancer survivor.  I'd say I wear the title with pride, but really, I just did what anyone would do if they found out they have a deadly disease.  I chose life.  I didn't even really make a choice...it just was.  Does that make sense?  I was diagnosed with colon cancer not quite a month after I turned 21.  I was a senior in college (Wittenberg University).  I had just come back from studying abroad in Germany (I graduated with a degree in German...yeah, pretty useful, huh?  Definitely a story for another time), I was carrying a very heavy load of courses trying to make up for the classes that didn't transfer from Germany and working almost full time so I could afford to live since I spent every penny I had in Germany!  To say I was busy would be an understatement.  But really, I thank God I was so busy and stressed or else I probably wouldn't have found my cancer so early.  For the sake of not getting into too many details, I had been feeling crappy in the bathroom way for about 2 years.  I would have sworn I was lactose intolerant or something.  For about a year and a half I had little bits of bloods to accompany all my bathroom visits, but I figured that made sense with as much as I was going.  A few weeks into the school year, I had a LOT more bleeding...that wasn't normal.  It happened twice and I was freaked out enough to go to the university's doctor.  She was very thorough and didn't find any obvious reasons for the excessive bleeding.  She had her own personal practise for three more days at the hospital across from campus.  She suggested a sigmoidoscopy (yikes!)  What an experience that was....hahahhaa.  I was a nervous wreck.  At this point, I had a creeping suspicion that this wasn't just some simple problem.  I had a nagging feeling I was looking at something a lot more serious.  She found a polyp.  The lab results came back "highly atypical".  She didn't tell us till later, the first results came back cancerous.  She just couldn't imagine that was what was happening (I could have told her otherwise and would have been right).  She suggested an immediate colonoscopy.  Thanks to my aunt who works at the Cleveland Clinic, I had an appt within a week.  Having my first colonoscopy was terrifying to say the least.  Now that I am an old pro, I look back and think it really wasn't THAT bad, I was totally dramatic about it, but I remember being sore for a day or two after.  Sure enough, that dang polyp was still there causing me all these problems.  The new Dr. (Dr. Wu, who I became to just adore) removed the polyp and took a million biopsies every feet or something (probably why I was so sore after the first one).  At this point, unaware that it really was cancer (well, I knew it was, but I hadn't had it confirmed officially), Dr. Wu explained that if it is cancer, technically, it was gone.  A week later, we took a trip to Strongsville (this was where Dr. Wu worked) and heard the heart wrenching news that I had signet ring carcinoma.  I remember it like it was yesterday.  Well, I remember things getting a little blurry and me holding it together till my dad started crying.  Pretty much immediately, I was taken to outpatient surgery and had an endoscopy.  Needless to say, this hands down was one of the worst things I went thru with regards to my cancer.  I mean, I had just had this news dropped on me and then had a tube shoved down my throat.  I threw up the whole trip home.  Dr. Wu decided a new Dr. would be the best for me and referred me to Dr. Fazio.  Dr. Fazio was the head of the colorectal department at the Cleveland Clinic (I think he may still be).  Sitting in his waiting room you could literally hear at least five different languages being spoken.  People from around the world came to see him.  Anyhow, I went thru quite a few tests and what have you.  Apparently, the type of cancer I had almost never started in your colon, usually it starts in your stomach or pancreas and moves to your stomach. As well, it is a very aggressive cancer and typically 10 out of 10 people die from it (thank you American Cancer Society for this little gem of info told to my mom...)  Dr. Fazio told me I had a better chance of getting struck by lightening thank getting this type of cancer at my age (very comforting...)  I was scheduled for surgery November 9, 2000.  A day that will always hold importance to me.  Amazingly, all of my tests came back suggesting that the cancer started in my colon.  I had a foot and a half of colon, 89 lymph nodes (to this day, I still haven't ever heard of anyone having this many lymph nodes removed) and my appendix removed.  Pathology results revealed that I was officially CANCER FREE!  Definitely up there as the most amazing words I've ever heard.  I spent almost a week in the hospital and quite a while longer to recover.  Overall, I was ridiculously lucky.  No chemo, no radiation.  Just a lifelong, close relationship with colonoscopies (small price to pay, no doubt).  Though completely physically healed and mostly emotionally healed, this definitely was a defining moment in my life. 

Wow, this post is getting long.  Alright...I'll do my best to shorten the rest.  All of my life, I have had a tendency towards having really loose ligaments.  Meaning, my joints sublux or slip out of socket ofen and I am very flexible.  Starting as young as 6th grade, I suffered from different sorts of pain.  In sixth grade, I wore a knee brace for most of the year (super embarrassing by the way).  At the time, I was told I was growing faster than my body could keep up with and I had tendinitis.  In middle school, I had a few new braces added to my arsenal. Most memorable was the hand brace I wore on my right thumb because I had "tendinitis" in my thumb from playing the saxophone (seriously, I barely played and totally SUCKED when I did).  A switch to the coronet helped some (well, it helped my thumb, not my music career...hahhahaah).  Freshman year, I decided band was dumb (smart choice) and I wanted to play soccer (maybe not the best thing for a bad knee).  I sat out most of the season with another knee brace on and even crutches.  Finally, I was referred to a doctor in Cleveland who did surgery on my knee because my knee cap was loose.  No amount of physical therapy could keep that sucker in place.  Sophomore year, I decided to take a different approach to sports.  I tried swimming.  I LOVE swimming.  It was a perfect no impact sport.  Until, I got to college and my shoulder decided it just couldn't take anymore swimming.  I did a bunch more physical therapy with only worse results.  I spent the whole swimming season kicking and working out in the weight room.  Definitely not what I had planned for my college swimming career.  I saw a new Dr. at home and he decided on some surgery.  The first was a new surgery they were trying out for this specific problem.  In theory, they would heat up my ligaments and they would shrink because of the heat.  Their theory was crap.  This did not work and did just the opposite making me have more pain and become even more loose.  Within six months, I had another shoulder surgery that was more invasive and they cut and pasted everything tighter.  This surgery lasted for 5 years.  Suddenly, I started having issues with my shoulder again.  I had more surgery in attempt to do more of the same from five years ago.  Tightening that bad boy up.  This time, we took special care to stay immobile for 8 weeks rather than the normal 4-6 weeks and I worked with a therapist who had more experience with mobility issues.  Sadly, I just couldn't seem to get my movement back (or pain under control).  The surgery was in April 2005, at the end of December, I had a manipulation, where they sedate you and move your arm around trying to break free of anything that could be causing the immobility.  I got my motion back, but never got rid of the pain.  Seven years later, I am still suffering from chronic pain.  In the mean time, I also found out what has been causing all of my problems with loose joints in the first place. A few years ago, I saw a genetic counsellor to see if my colon cancer was genetic (typically signet ring was pretty genetic...as of yet, they have not discovered a genetic cause for my cancer...thankfully!).  I spoke with her about my joint issues and she referred me to another genetic counsellor.  She diagnosed my mom and I both with Ehlers Danlos Hypermobility (type III is what they call it now I believe).  Ehler Danlos, definitely a genetic disorder (and one that probably will plague L for the rest of his life too unfortunately) and my mom and I both fit the profile to the T.  While amazing to finally have a a face to my nonstop problems, I don't necessarily have an answer to my problems.  I've done countless things to relieve myself of my shoulder pain....physical therapy, tons and tons of narcotic and non-narcotic drugs, too many to count injections, nerve blocks, cortisone shots, etc, biofeed back, and finally a neurostimulator implanted in my spinal cord.  Well, actually TWO spinal cord stimulators implanted.  The first one short circuited after three years and recently (last August), I had a paddle lead inserted into my neck as well as some bone removed with the hopes of no more short circuiting and more pain relief (sadly, this hasn't been the case). 

So in a book and  half, you have my medical crap summarized.  In six words....Cancer, loose joints and shoulder pain.  It's been a long journey.  It will probably continue to be.  As it stands with my shoulder, I am currently waiting for a doctor's appointment with a new surgeon hoping to see if having my ligaments in my shoulder replaced with cadaver ligaments is something I might benefit from.  Cheers to more surgery!

Craft stuff I did this weekend....

I almost forgot....in the spirit of covering ALL topics, I wanted to post pictures of the CUTE garden rocks that my mom, L, and I painted this weekend.  Now I have to figure a way to seal in the paint....any suggestions would be welcome....
They turned out pretty cute....I still have seven more to paint...these are mine....

Obviously, the owl is my favorite (I love owls!) 

Needing some direction....

Ugh, so clearly, I am not great at this whole writing a blog daily.  Maybe it is because I have only given my blog site to a few people, so it's a safe assumption that no one is really reading this.  A blog solely for my own benefit....interesting.  I am not really sure where I am going with this blog at this point anyway.  As evident in the title, I originally thought describing my chaotic life would be fun.  Not gonna lie, I have no idea who thinks me running around like a chicken with its head cut off is fun.  Shoot, I don't even think it is fun.  Maybe I could review books I read (or TV shows, or music....or all....).  Or maybe I can discuss my yearly goals (I have quite a few lofty ones that I am constantly working on reaching).  Or I can blog about my little crafts and fun things I do with my mom and son.  OR I can go on and on about my garden (yeah, I am so planting a garden this year and I am SOOOOO proud of myself!).  OR.....my favorite....I could dedicate my whole entire blog to Alexander Skarsgard.  Right?  Can't get enough of that guy, can you?  I know I can't.  I guess I could be a scatter brain and post about everything above and then some.  But really, in doing that, I am not giving myself a lot of direction and that seems to be more confusing than even trying to pin point exactly WHY I am writing a blog (besides my own amusement at myself)  Until further notice, I guess I am going to do a little bit of everything.  Writing about everything I like or don't like, that makes my blog chaotic, right?  So scatter brain it is.  Sweet!

My kick for today relates to the previous post about "Fifty Shades of Grey".  I hate the fact that I am so anal that I just HAVE to read all three of these freaking books.  Even if I don't really like them.  That isn't to say that they aren't a little enjoyable.  I mean, they are definitely an easy read (well the first two so far, but I expect the third is the same), but I have to admit to being a little bored by them.  Ugh, dang me and my finishing something to the complete end attitude!  I think one of the reason I don't really like these books (so far) is that they are the kind of books that make you look at your life and think "man, my life is so depressing....I don't have a rich husband that I have sex with four times a day, etc..."  It leaves you feeling like your normal run of the mill life is inadequate.  I know, I know....this is fantasy....I get that.  I really do, but for me, when I read a book, it stays with me.  I'm invested in it, even if I don't love it.  The absolute worst part is, I don't even WANT a life like that.  I mean, seriously, these characters are exhausting with their constant worrying about whether the other loves them and if they are always going to be enough for each other....not even to mention the fact that they barely work and have sex day and night.  Jeez.  We get it....you guys are hot....for each other too.  Anyhow, guess I am stuck sucking it up and buying the third book for my nook and getting sucked into the last (thank God) installment of this crappy series.  I am a glutton for punishment (which by the way is quite apt in reading this series...hee hee).

Since I previously mentioned Alexander Skarsgard (lovingly referred to as Askars by me), I figured I'd talk a bit about this absolutely swoon worthy hunk (hahahaha....sorry, even I am cringing at that word).  I guess his new movie, Battleship, is coming to the US this week (?).  Honestly, it really doesn't look like a movie I'd be itching to see were Askars not in it.  Of course, seeing his amazingly HOT self in this movie makes me super excited to watch it!!  I mean, a girl's got to do something until True Blood comes back on this summer (oooh....wait for that....yeah, I am definitely going to be blogging about True Blood....I am so excited I can barely stand it!)  I was kind of excited to do some searching on the internet and getting to see some pics of Askars at Coachella, but sadly he didn't attend this weekend....here's hoping for next weekend!!!!   

(Upadate: Here are some shots of Askars at Coachella!  Yay!!!)


OK, there you have it.  Enjoy everyone who reads this (aka ME)!  :)

Fifty Shades of Grey.....mommy porn?

I have been hearing all kinds of buzz about this book lately.  I am a little hesitant since it's apparently it's fan fiction for Twilight.  Ugh.  I guess it's a sluttier version of Twilight.  Now, don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the Twilight books.  I really did....swear!  It's just the whole franchise makes me a bit sick to my stomach at this point.  It's so over saturated.  And I am NOT a fan of RPatz and KStew....GAG!  For movies that have made SOOOO much money, you'd think they could have gotten decent actors, decent make up artists and well, made the movies just a lot better than they are.  Sadly, the movies have kind of ruined the book experience for me.  I've only even seen one and a quarter of them, but can't seem to read the books without seeing Kristen Stewart's pouty puss and Robert Pattinson's scrawny body.  Ahhh....I digress....

Anyway, back to "Fifty Shades of Grey"....  Maybe I shouldn't be judging this book before I have finished it.  At this point, I am only half way thru it.  The similarities to the Twlight Series is a little crazy.  I mean, I am kind of thinking that Stephenie Meyer may even have a lawsuit to look forward to!  Hmmm, OK, so I decided I would read this book because somehow I've gotten into the erotic book club.  This was seriously by accident, seeing that I am pretty much one of the pruder people I know!  I figured, might as well check this book out....after all this buzz, I was totally curious.  The book is OK so far.  The main female character, Anastasia, is a almost college grad (she graduates in the book).  She's a virgin (well, started out that way ;)  hahaha) and oh so innocent.  Of course, she has a few boys that swoon over her and she is blissfully unaware of her allure (gag).  Anyway, she meets Christian Grey, who is maybe in his later 20s and owns his own HUGE company, super rich, super hot, well, pretty much any super superficial thing a woman may dream about.  So their "relationship" begins, yada, yada, lots of sexual tension....blah, blah, blah....Christian's into kinky S&M stuff.  He even has a huge room of pain....when you're that rich, clearly no one thinks it's weird to have an enormous S&M room in your huge house.  Apparently, Christian is a pro Dominant (nothing creepy about that, right?) and has a whole contract drawn up outlining what being his Submissive entails.  Oh yeah, my favorite is the nondisclosure form too.  Hahaha.  Too funny.  So far, they are still mostly hashing out the details of the contract and Ana finally agreed to be his Submissive.  I have to say, I don't care how hot a dude is or what your sexual chemistry is with him, this would probably be a little too much for me to handle.  The idea of being tied up, nipple clamps, etc doesn't sound appealing to me at all.  Especially if you were a virgin.  Good grief.  So they you have the basic outline of the story.  The few things that annoy me about the book are....#1 it really is a total Twilight knock off, from Christian's constant trying to protect Ana (buying her a safer...and flashier car) and making her eat all the time, to Ana's mom being just newly remarried and her having a closer relationship with her father (albeit her "father" is a step father), to Christian's crazy wealth.  Basically, this book just replaces biting and sucking blood with kinky S&M stuff #2 Ana keeps referring to her "inner goddess".....seriously?  Every time I read her talking about it, I want to gag.  Jesus.  Come on.  #3 Do women ever tire of the rich, handsome male taking on the meek, innocent, virginal woman and teaching her the ways of the world, all the while falling in love with her?  While the woman fixes all the loneliness and heartbreak in this man's life?  I realize this is fiction, but sometimes, this whole scene just feels old and overdone.  Someday, it would be really nice to read about two normal people falling in love.  Wait, never mind....that's probably terribly boring....duh, Maggie....no one wants to read about their lives.  BORING!  Hahaha!  Well, I will just have to finish this book (probably today....I am a fast reader and this reads quick) and I'll make my final call on it later!

Easter and such

Our Easter weekend was really great!  Saturday morning we woke up early to meet the whole family (in laws and my mom) at Buehler's for breakfast with the Easter bunny.  Now typically, the servers at this particular place BEG for us to bring L because he is hilariously in love with the Easter bunny.  In previous years, he has practically followed the Easter bunny paying no attention to his breakfast or excited grandparents!  This year he was a little wary of the bunny.  Actually, he seemed a bit annoyed that the Easter bunny was even there.  At first he refused to even go sit with him.  So my mom and I told him we'd go see him first and of course, we've got our goofy pics with the Easter bunny.  L came over and sat on A's lap on the floor while I sat next to the bunny....photo moment #3!  Hahahah!  Apparently, one of the servers bribed L with an extra set of crayons.  I almost DIED laughing when L got back into his chair and immediately said "where's my crayons!"  He kept telling us that he would go sit with the Easter bunny after "dinner" (aka breakfast!)  So he finished eating and said he was ready.  The Easter bunny sits on a little wooden bench.  L sat the absolute furthest away from him as he could and gave me the most disgusted, unimpressed look ever.  I swear, I was in stitches laughing at him.  That kid is seriously a riot. 

After breakfast, my mom and I went our separate ways to go to a food carving class.  It was so awesome!  We had a blast and made the coolest veggie bouquets!  Mine was totally the best in the class, if I do say so myself!  Hahahaha!  My mom had surprised me by signing us up and paying for the class for me.  It was a really sweet thing to do and it was so nice to get away and have some fun without L! 

Saturday night, mom, L, and I made deviled eggs (they were little chicks!), finished my relish tray (bunny relish tray) and cupcakes (mom and L made these!) 

Easter morning, mom and I decided to go to mass early....7am!  I was very impressed with us for getting up and getting there mostly on time (yeah, my mom is ALWAYS late anymore!)  Mass was really nice, it wasn't too crowded.  It was really nice to have it done for the day and then we had the rest of the day to celebrate.  A took L down in the basement while Easter bunny #1 (me) and Easter bunny #2 (mom) hid the eggs we colored and FOUR Easter baskets for L (spoiled much?)  L had a freaking blast finding the eggs.  Ziva (our boxer/ lab mix dog) kept giving away the egg locations!  She thinks she's a human and needs to be involved with everything L does!  After that, we got everything together and headed to Cleveland.  It was so great to see my grandparents and aunts and uncle.  My two cousins played with L. He ate SO much candy and had a blast hanging with the girls (they are 15 and 16 and thought L was too much fun!)

Overall, it was an amazing weekend!  I am so thankful for all of my family.  It is absolutely awesome to have a stress free holiday too!

Here are some of the pictures of my Easter yummies!!!!  The pinterest queen strikes again!  Hahaha!

Attack of the ants....

Yesterday was a fairly normal day.  I normally work 9-1pm.  Got home, ran around trying to get dinner in the crock pot before I had to take A (husband) to work at 1:30pm.  I won't say it was my best meal ever, but hey, it was quick and allowed me to mess around in my garden to be rather than making dinner.  It was a recipe I found in my crock pot bible..."Fix it and Forget it"....it was chicken, a can of french onion soup, one can of cream of mushroom soup and a little white wine.  I serve it over rice.  Ok, done with my food side bar.  I made some progress in my garden!!  Right now I am tearing the heck out of a flower bed near my garage.  In the past, it has helped solidify my trashy neighbor status in the neighborhood.  Seriously, this "flower bed" is a freaking nightmare.  Being the ambitious person that I am (sometimes), I decided to tear it all out (YIKES!) and plant a veggie garden there.  Really, it is an amazing area.  I like to think I'm about half way done tearing stuff out, but deep down I know I did the easy half and have a decent amount of work ahead of me.  I keep thinking I should consult some experts on how to lay out my veggie garden.  But really, the idea of planning it all out is a little too much for me.  I'm feeling more a "fly by the seat of my pants" attitude to learning to garden.  I think A might be totally shocked that I am actually working so hard to get this done.  Hahahaha.  I am notorious for starting outdoor projects and then never keeping up with it.  Granted, at this point, we are at the very beginning of the season!  I better not make any promises I can't keep!  Maybe putting this into words on the Internet will force me to stick to it!   Anyway, I've strayed from the funny story I wanted to write.....

At nap time, I went to put L to bed.  He started getting all excited and yelling, "MOMMY, there's a bug in my bed"!!!!  So I looked and there was a teeny little black ant.  I squished it and didn't think anything of it.  I finally got L in the bath (he was bouncing off the walls last night!) and went to his room to arrange his bed.  I noticed a few more ants in his bed.  I looked on the wall and there were a couple there too.  I started to freak a little.  I am not afraid of ants or anything, I just know my kid and that there is not a chance in hell he'd sleep with bugs!  I tried moving his toddler bed away from the window (normally it's in front of the window....probably where the ants are coming from).  I thought maybe he might sleep in his big bed (till I saw an ant there too!)  I asked him if he'd sleep with me, I was answered with a solid "NO!!"  He saw his toddler bed moved he said "No way....put my bed back!"  Hahahaha.  I called my mom because she was on her way to Walmart and begged for some nontoxic ant killer.  What a job...hahaha....apparently there is no such thing.  I googled ants and was told to try drawing lines in baking soda because ants don't like the feel of it on their feet.  It was all pretty funny because I was freaking out and trying not to get L all hyped up.  I was on the phone saying, "there are A-N-T-S in his B-E-D!!!!"  My mom saved the day with some childproof ant traps.  She held one up and said maybe they are childproof, but I have my doubts that it's L-proofed!  Hahahaha....so we hid them behind his furniture.  Thankfully, I didn't see any signs of ants this morning.  Crisis averted.  Maybe not in the least dramatic way, but averted none the less!  Oh, by the way, A thinks there's a good chance my tearing up the flower bed is what got the ants all riled up.  Nice one, Maggie!

I've talked about starting a blog for awhile and was kind of chickened out thinking about everything I write being available to the whole world to read.  Well, here we go, I've sucked it up and figured now is just as good as later! 
I really have no idea if anyone will read this.  My life, though chaotic to me, probably is tame for some people.  I am 32.  I'm a mother.  I am a wife.  I am a daughter.  I have a few other labels, but these three definitely mean the most to me and take up most of my time.
I can easily say being a mother takes the biggest chunk of time in my little world.  I am the mother to a 3yr old boy.  Per his doctor, he is a spirted little boy.  Some days I agree, some days I'm too overwhelmed for titles.  I love my little boy like nothing I've ever experienced.  He challenges me daily!  L is a lively, super intellegent little guy.  I have never quite expierenced a memory like his.  I just discovered that a book I read to him occasionally, he has memorized word for word.  I really don't think he's heard this book more than a handful of times!  I sat there with my jaw dropped completely shocked last night as he read the book to me!  I realize that other kids memorize books and it isn't too uncommon.  I guess what shocked me is that first he hadn't really heard the book as often as some of his favorites and he gave me literally no indication that he had it memorized till I asked him to help me name some of the animals.  Blew me away a bit! 
Right now we are having a few good days with L.  The good days are AMAZING! 
Being a wife is the second hat I wear.  I always ask myself "which is harder, being a parent or being a spouse?"  Even after having a child, I still saying being a spouse is harder.  Being a parent is ridiuclously hard.  I can honestly say that I struggle at it more than not.  And though being a wife seems to be a piece of cake to the mother role, being a spouse tends to be the kind of work that you overlook because other things are more pressing (child up all night wanting your attention 24/7, etc)  But it's also what slowly sneaks up and bites you in the butt.  I love my husband and consider myself really lucky to have found a man like him.  I probably don't tell him I appreciate him enough.  I probably don't give him as much attention as I should either.  Hey, marriage is constant work.  There's times where we want to kill each other.  I never take for granted that though, your family has to love you regardless forever, your husband, does not.  I am committed to a lifetime of working on constantly improving my marriage. 
Finally, being a daughter is an important role in my life.  My mom and I are super close and spend a lot of time together.  She happily comes to my house nightly to sample my budding hobby as a cook. 
Alright....so that's a bit about me.  I assume that as this blog progresses, you'll get to know me a lot better.  The good, bad and ugly!  Hahaha!