Hither
	July 2, 2009 | Filed Under NWIP | No Comments

My sister and her family are here, which is so much fun.  Sarah and I are currently having fun on twitter with our twitter friends.  We are also watching Gladiators from the 80’s where there are SO MANY MULLETS.  My God.  WHY 80′S?  WHY?  WHY THE MULLET?

Have I told you that Sarah is pregnant?  It’s true.  She’s due in December.

And right now she’s eating Little Debbie’s which I think it’s very, very cute.  But now it’s bedtime.

but stop.  Before you go.

I posted over here today.

kbye.

	You Capture. Photographer’s choice.
	July 1, 2009 | Filed Under you capture. | 34 Comments

I loves me some photographer’s choice.  I am most excited about your results this week.

I have a lot of pictures to show this week, a wide variety.  Some of them I am actually really, really nervous about because they are pictures I took of me.  I KNOW!  I stood in the mirror and made myself take pictures of me.  (the horror, I am so serious.)  I’m showing you not because I think I look all stunning, because, um…THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE, I’m showing you to encourage you to get in front of the camera instead of behind it every once in awhile.  Your children, their children and their children will thank you.  I promise.

And yes, this will be a challenge coming up.  I can promise you that.

Anyway, here are my picks for this week.

Let me get the ones of me out of the way.  I am seriously CRINGING that I am doing this.  I may lose sleep over this decision.

WHOA.  THAT IS LARGE.

And I like this one because, well, THERE IS NO BIG FACE FOR YOU TO LOOK AT.  And of course it shows my favorite jewelry.

We’ve been spending a ton of time at my Mom’s house since my whole family is in town, these were taken there:

And this is my niece.  She has the softest voice and the best facial expressions and her hair is so wonderfully curly.  She and I are best friends.

And then I had a photo shoot this past week and here is one of my favorite shots:

That’s it from me, man!

Now it’s your turn.

BUT FIRST, CHECK THESE ‘RULES’ OUT, K?

1.  You can join in on this challenge at any time!  We welcome & love new participants.
2.  Please make sure you are linking directly to your specific You Capture post in Mr. Linky (and not just your site, for instructions, go here) and please make sure you are linking back to this challenge in your post.  If you don’t abide by this, your link will be removed.  (I know, I’m so mean.)
3.  Try your hardest not to reuse a picture from your archives, the goal of You Capture is to get you moving with your camera, get creative!  Challenge yourself!
4.  Do your best to visit the other participants’ site - everyone loves the traffic, the comments and the feedback (not just you!)
5.  And finally, post as many pictures as you want on your post.

There are two choices for next week.  You can do one or the other, or both.  It’s up to you.

Independence Day & food.

I hope my friends in the United States have a wonderful and safe Fourth of July.  Wishing you so much fun as your celebrate the freedom of our great country!

	Of the heart
	June 29, 2009 | Filed Under JJF, That's Life, stupid crap | 45 Comments

The appointment today went really well.  It was a beautiful day in the Windy City and believe it or not, it was actually windy.

Also?  I hate wind.  But that’s another post for another day.  Actually, it’s not, I’m sure I’ll never post about wind because I hate it and have nothing to say about it except I HATE WIND, THE END.  So, that’s all my post would be and I just wrote that.

Anyway.

The appointment was slightly strange in that I met with the nurse first and then a doctor came in before the head doctor came in.  The first doctor came in actually asked me all of the questions and got all of my information.  (just after the nurse got all of my information and asked me all of the questions.)

As I’m sure you can imagine, or maybe you can’t, these appointments are not fun simply because I have to fill them in of our history.  I was pregnant with twins.  They died.  We don’t know what happened.  I miscarried again this past January, it’s believed that the two losses are not related, but we are working on finding the answers.  We have two children that are alive.  I am on 392 different medications, no I don’t smoke, and no I don’t exercise.

The first doctor:  So, do you exercise?

Me:  No…I don’t.  and I make a face like I regret it, but really?  I don’t.

Him: Why don’t you exercise?

Me:  I don’t know, because it’s hard.

Him: You don’t exercise because it’s hard?

Me:  Right.

Him: Well, I guess if it were easy and fun everyone would do it and we would never be in this situation.

Me:  EXACTLY.

Him:  hmmmm….

Then the big dog doctor comes in:

Him: so, have you always had high blood pressure?

Me:  FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, I HAVE ANSWERED THIS QUESTION 12 TIMES IN THE PAST 18 MINUTES.  Also, why am I wearing a hospital gown, exactly?  Except I did not say that, instead “I started getting high blood pressure when I was pregnant with my oldest, it runs in my family.  Everyone has high blood pressure, they’re all a bunch of jerks.”

Him:  I see you are on prozac.

Me:  Right.

Him:  When did you lose the twins?

Me:  Last February, 2008.

Him:  And when did you most recently miscarry?

Me: January.

Him:  And you’re on prozac.

Me:  Yes.

Him:  and you lost the twins, when?

Me:  OHMYGOD, LAST FEBRUARY.

Him:  Do you think you still need the prozac.

At this point I was pretty annoyed, but understood that he looked up Prozac and found the drug to not be safe during pregnancy and wanted me off of it.  However, I explained that most OB/GYN’s say it’s safe and he said “hey, they know more than I do.”

At which point, he became my friend again.  Good visit.  I go back in two weeks, he gave us the green light to try whenever we (us and the OB specialist) decide it’s time.  (by the way, I do not talk about these things, you know, about trying and all of that, this is a BIG DEAL that I’m sharing this information.  I hope you are feeling my love for you, man.)

They did increase my BP meds because my blood pressure was high today.

When the first doctor handed me my prescription for the new dose of blood pressure medicine at the end of the visit, I asked him if he could write me a prescription for exercise in a pill.

He laughed and walked out the door and I’m pretty sure he said he hated me.

But that’s okay.  I thought we got along famously.

	Full week.
	June 28, 2009 | Filed Under JJF, Loss, That's Life | 24 Comments

We have the craziest week ahead of us.  My brothers and their families are coming into a town which means a week jam packed with family time.  Then my sister and her family are coming and staying with us, whenever we all get together like this, we tend to freeze our lives and spend our time just visiting and enjoying being surrounded by each other.

My brothers (identical twin decorated Army Majors) are both receiving awards on July 4th from the Mayor of the city where they were born and raised, the city where my parents live now.  We are so proud of them.

Tomorrow, I meet with a cardiologist at the University of Chicago who specializes in pre-pregnancy and pregnant women, it’s just another step we are taking towards ensuring good health before attempting to have more children.  I am not looking forward to this appointment, I’m not sure why.  I typically have a pretty understanding disposition about such appointments, but this one I’m dreading a little bit.

Maybe I’m just bitter that I just can’t get pregnant AND REMAIN pregnant like everyone else?

Before I know it, though, it will be over.  On the upside, no one will be driving dump trucks into my vagina at this appointment, so that’s a plus.  And the kids get to stay at Stephanie’s during my appointment, they are beyond excited about that.

On July 6th, we meet with our specialist (the woman who specializes in pregnancy loss) to go over her findings after our meetings and blood tests and her driving  a dump truck into my vagina.  I’m so hysterically scared that she’s going to advise not to have anymore children.

I mean, I’ll be fine, if that’s what she suggests.  I’ll just be heartbroken, I just thought we’d have more than two children, you know?   But I’m always so grateful for the two gifts that we have here on earth.

I’m also so grateful for the two precious babies in heaven, watching over us all of the time.  I am missing them so much right now, realizing that no doubt we’d be celebrating their 1st birthday any day now.  Those two identical little boys enjoying their little cakes together.  What a celebration that would be!  I feel like it’s been so long since I’ve written about them, sometimes it’s just easier to think about them and hold them in my heart rather than trying to verbalize what I’m feeling to others.

I feel like I shouldn’t be sad any longer, so I keep to myself, I’m okay with that.  But I do like talking about them and the amazing love they have shown us.  (and the love we feel for them, it’s impossible to put into words!)  The other day I was way behind on my blog reading, within the first five minutes, two blogs that I read had referenced James and Jake.  That made me really happy.  I’m always astonished how many people share my love for them.

It comforts me.  It supports me.  It reminds me that life is amazing and beyond what exists inside these walls.

No matter what happens, we are so blessed.

	be patient
	June 27, 2009 | Filed Under Being a Mama, Friendly, Uncategorized | 22 Comments

“happiness is like a butterfly;

the more you chase it,

the more it will elude you,

but if you turn your attention

to other things, it will

come and sit softly

on your shoulder…”

(thoreau)

	HALP!
	June 26, 2009 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 19 Comments

I don’t know why this contest is lasting so long, but it is and I can’t change it.  I wish I could because if I could I would have ended it two days ago and then I would have won but now I’m not in first anymore.  And that makes me cry, but only a little bit.

So, can you fix that for me?

Just head over here and vote for my blog under Best Eye Candy?  It’s so simple.  And you can vote EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!  C’mon, friends!  We can do it!

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!  LET’S GO TEAM!  GET DOWN, GET FUNKY, GET LOOSE!

Also, does anyone like fresh guacamole?  I made THE BEST last night and am thinking about sharing the recipe with you guys.  Interested?

	just to bore you.
	June 25, 2009 | Filed Under Bloggityville, stupid crap | 28 Comments

I’ve decided to bore you with live blogging my day today and maybe even tomorrow.  Why?  Well, I realized the other day how much Twitter takes away from my blogging.  That micro-blogging site is so smart and I enjoy it so much but there are pretty much a million negative things about it.  Like you know, I’M ADDICTED.

stupid twitter.  Yesterday, I tweeted “I blame twitter for everything.’  and I do.  That blanket statement is so true. (by the way, are you following me, why not?  JOIN THE TWITTER PARTY LIKE NOW!)

so, I’m going to live blog today, which means you can come back here 79 times today and perhaps I’ll have updated 79 times which means this will be the most BORING DAY OF BLOGGING EVER.

Aren’t you excited?

One of the biggest reasons I’m doing this is for selfish reasons, I need to get some stuff done today and I’m thinking I can keep coming here today and tell you want I need to do and what I just did and maybe it will be one big productive day.  Or maybe I’ll just come back tonight and be like “so today I ate a waffle cone and a box of teddy grahams and then I took a nap.  good night.“  Which pretty much sums up my day yesterday.  (I did clean three bathrooms, it wasn’t a total loss.)

Let me catch you up to speed.

First and most importantly, this is on my island right now.  Brian made me the cone last night.  He also accidentally left the ice cream out, but I saved the ice cream’s life by noticing a few hours later.

The cones are still on the island and I am a hero.

I woke up way too early when Racecar came into my room at 6:40 which is totally not allowed in my house.  Somehow he left me alone until 8:30.  Not sure what he did but he’s still alive and that’s all that matters.  Right?

This is what  I look like today.  I took two showers yesterday so I think I can go showerless for many days now.  That’s the rule, right?

All of these pictures were taken with my iPhone.  I’m sorry they are so tiny.

I need to clean these two rooms today.  The living room and the kitchen.  Like REALLY clean them.

Looking at these two rooms I realize how very BEIGE I am.  NEED COLOR.

And I need to do some laundry.  These whites have been on the kitchen floor since OHMYGODSUNDAY.  I need to add to the pile since we have sooooooo many more items to add to that pile but they are ALL THE WAY UPSTAIRS.  SEND HELP.

For breakfast I had 1 and a 1/2 piece of whole wheat toast.  It was not good, so I quit eating it.  I’ve also put make-up on and have a bra on and running shoes, I’ve also made my bed.  But I do those things everyday.

I also posted over here today.

So, I’m going to leave now and make lunch, give Racecar medicine and try to check something off of my to-do list.

What are you doing today?

****

It’s now 1:51 and I really haven’t done anything except make lunch, eat lunch, water some plants, give medicine to my little, tiny, precious, angel boy and put a load of whites in the washer.

The neighbors behind us put a pool in yesterday.  I may be spending waaay too much time starting longingly at their pool.  (yes, I know…THE UPKEEP.  Don’t care.  Need pool.)  This is also the time of day where my body requires a nap.  Am so tired.  Status of living room and kitchen?  Still messy.

DANGIT.

Right now I’m emailing back and forth with Kim about her Etsy shop which is made up of the awesome.

Bored, yet?

****

and it’s 3:26 and I haven’t done anything.  I’m really, really tired.  So, I took a nap and am now drinking a diet coke.  Have I told you that I get energy around five?  It’s true.  Also?  I’m tired.  Have I told you that?

My girls are coming over tonight after the kids go to bed.  That should give me motivation, right?

Why are you guys so quiet today?  Are you in your pool?  Don’t tell me if you are.  If you are, I’m coming over.

When you are tired and have to get stuff done, what do you do?  HELP ME, MAN.

****

It’s 4:38 and I have good news.  I started cleaning the living room, I even organized our craft cabinet.  Also?  According to twitter, Michael Jackson is dead.

****

It’s 6:51. It’s been a busy few hours.  Brian came home from work, we picked our van up from the shop (window was broken…AGAIN.), and I just got back from the grocery store.

This may be it for it now, I need to make guacamole dip, two different kinds of brownies and well…CLEAN.

My girls are coming over and we love to eat.

Obviously.

	You Capture. Summer.
	June 24, 2009 | Filed Under you capture. | 40 Comments

I love summer.   Today was unbelievably hot, by far the hottest day this year.  We spent the majority of the day, no, we spent ALL day inside the house all cooped up because it was so darn hot outside.  I found myself getting frustrated that we spent all winter waiting to go outside and then summer finally comes and it’s too hot to go outside.

But tonight, I just had to get out.  I started weeding my garden.  And then I started sweating.  And then my daughter came out to talk to me.  It was very sweet.  I picked up my camera and captured summer.  Right there in my yard.

We moved into this house on July 1 of last year.  Last year at this time, our yard was dirt, mud, weeds.  It has come a long way.  I love that when I see my house, I see summer.

This was my daughter’s third outfit today.  For no other reason then to change clothes.  But that’s okay.  I don’t mind.

Summer sprinkling is always a necessity.

And you know what else screams summer to me?  WEEDS.  These particular weeds remind me of when I was younger.  Back then I thought they were wonderful flowers.

But no.  Just weeds.  Really cute weeds.

Did you have fun this week?  I hope you did.  We certainly spent a lot of time playing in kiddie pools and sprinklers, have I mentioned  I love summer?  Because I do.  A lot.

Now it’s your turn to share your summer goodness.

But first!

1.  You can join in on this challenge at any time!  We welcome & love new participants.
2.  Please make sure you are linking directly to your specific You Capture post in Mr. Linky (and not just your site, for instructions, go here) and please make sure you are linking back to this challenge in your post.  If you don’t abide by this, your link will be removed.  (I know, I’m so mean.)
3.  Try your hardest not to reuse a picture from your archives, the goal of You Capture is to get you moving with your camera, get creative!  Challenge yourself!
4.  Do your best to visit the other participants’ site - everyone loves the traffic, the comments and the feedback (not just you!)
5.  And finally, post as many pictures as you want on your post.

Photographer’s choice. You get to share whatever you want.  I’m hoping to get some inspiration and ideas for future challenges from you!  So click and share, I can’t wait to see.  Be as creative as you want to be!

HAPPY CAPTURING, FRIENDS!

	About the Hybrid
	June 23, 2009 | Filed Under Reviews | 21 Comments

Even as the the car pulled into our drive way, I had no idea what the word “Hybrid” really meant.  It wasn’t until I was actually driving the car that I started to understand what driving a Hybrid really means.  This is a pretty lengthy post, but I promise you that you will learn so much, not just about Ford but about the way that cars are changing to become more economical and environmentally friendly.  I do hope you read on and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comment section.

When you start the car, you just turn the key, the engine doesn’t turn on, my sister describes it as the sound of an antenna rising on your car.  The engine doesn’t actually turn on until you start going about five mph.  Otherwise, it runs strictly on battery.

The number one question asked was “do you have to charge the battery.”  The answer is no.  The car charges itself, one of the ways is through Regenerative Braking:

“When you apply the brakes in a conventional vehicle, kinetic energy is lost to heat due to friction. During braking in the Fusion Hybrid, the regenerative braking system captures 94 percent of this energy that is normally lost and sends it back to the battery pack to be stored for later use. Not only is regenerative braking efficient, but it helps minimize wear on the brake pads, lowering the cost of maintenance.”

UM.  How cool is that?

Before I continue, I don’t want this to be one of those reviews that you read and think “well, of course, she liked it, she got to drive one for me for a week.“  Because I promise you, that’s not the case.  In fact, I turn down almost all requests to review products because I can’t stand the thought of sounding like a fake advertisement on my blog.  I do have some negative things to say about this car.  Not much.  But some.  (they’ll come later on in the post)

I am most excited about telling you about this car because it is SO DIFFERENT then your typical vehicle and I’d love to share with you what I learned.

But first, look, this is the list of artists from my iPhone attached directly to the car and displaying on the screen:

We never had to fumble around with the iPods and iPhones and look down to pick a new song.  It all came up on a big screen right in front of us.

The screen is a touch screen.

The gas.  It shows how uneducated I was in that I really didn’t think we would save money on gas.  OH MY GOSH, WE SAVED SO  MUCH.  When we got in the car and started our journey to Kentucky, which is four hours away, the gauge read “600 miles to empty.”

I thought it was  really cool and then when I told Brian he laughed and acted like it wasn’t going to be true.  But it was.  We drove all the way down and continued to drive the entire four days we were there.  We drove to a baseball game and the zoo and to dinner and grocery shopping and to lunch…we drove A LOT and once we were ready to leave Lousiville and head to Michigan, we still had 140 miles to empty.  Typically, we fill up as soon as we get there.

The second most asked question was “how much does it cost to fill up?“  I wondered the same thing.  My initial thought was that maybe the gas tank was totally enormous and that it would cost us a hundred dollars to fill up.  But no, it cost the same as any other vehicle.

All vehicles are equipped with an Easy Fuel™ capless filler, which is not only easier but it’s amazing for the earth:

“The standard Easy Fuel™ capless fuel filler system has an integrated spring-loaded door that allows you to simply insert the fuel nozzle into the tank to fill up. No screw cap is required. And because Easy Fuel™ automatically seals after the fuel nozzle is removed, fewer evaporative emissions are released into the environment.”

The gauge you see above, the graph, lets you know what your gas mileage is at the moment, it fluctuates up and down as your drive.  The gauge was particularly helpful to me because it helped me actually SEE what I was doing that was beneficial or more economical.  The gauge went straight up to 60+ MPG when we would coast.  I loved to coast in this car.

The leaves on the right?  Those were my favorite.  The more leaves and ivy that showed up, the more efficient you were driving.

The Ford Fusion we drove was a 2010.  It was fully loaded, complete with leather seats, seat warmers, sun roof, media center, GPS system, Sirius radio, a reverse sensing system, complete with camera, guides on the screen for backing up, which makes for perfect parking and an alert that goes off when someone or something is near you.  This feature was one of my favorites and comes standard in the Fusion Hybrid.

This is the view of the sky through the sunroof.

Another view, pointing up.

One of the coolest features (obviously, I thought there were many) was that the side view mirrors each had a sensor in them and a light.  The light would turn on if someone was in your blindspot, making it virtually impossible to switch lanes and hit someone you can’t see.

When we parked the car at the baseball game, the person who was parked next to us had his window open.  We got out of the car and he said “hey, you can’t even hear your car running!“  We said “we know!“  And walked away like we owned the car.  And yes, we felt much cooler than we actually were.  (trust me, I was wearing gauchos, running shoes and a one inch pony tail, I NEEDED that car to make me feel better about myself.)

If you must know, here are some of the very few negative points that we found.

-the trunk is quite small in comparison to the other sedan we have.  However, we did somehow manage to fit both of the kids, their car seats and too much of our crap into the car for the entire car ride and not a single person complained.  Another cool thing about the trunk is that the space is what it is, typically when you close your trunk you have the bars and hinges that hold the door open.  These bars and hinges take up space.  In this car, those did not exist, so all of the space you saw, actually was yours, you did not have to allow space for the bars while packing it to capacity.

And we totally packed it to capacity.

-And one point, we seemed to have lost air conditioning or the ability for the air to blow out.  It was very hot outside and very noticeable.  However, we pulled over, shut the car off and restarted it and never had another issue.  We think it could have been user error.

-The car is extremely quiet.  While we thought it was really cool it could also be dangerous.  We noticed a few times in parking lots that people would just walk in back of us because they didn’t realize we were backing up because they couldn’t hear the car.  Thankfully the camera was on (always is when in reverse) and the alert went off.  If the car did not have a camera and an alert system, I would have been very nervous.

-When stepping on the gas, I felt the acceleration was a little loud.  I’m not sure if this was because the car ran so quiet otherwise and it was just more noticeable or if it was actually struggling a bit.

There.  That’s it.

The car drove like a dream.  It had everything we would ever want in a vehicle.  I never thought I would consider buying a Ford, it just wasn’t on my list of “must-haves” in life, but it’s definitely a company I will consider when we purchasing a new vehicle next January.

One thing we know for sure, is that we will very likely be purchasing a Hybrid.

For pricing information you can go here.   If you have any questions, I’d be happy to try to answer them myself or have them answered for you, Ford does have a comprehensive and user friendly site.   If you click here and scroll down a bit and click on “all new Hybrid” it will take you to a really cool video that lasts 58 seconds.

Thanks for reading, friends.  And thanks, Ford.  Awesome car.  We miss it.  A LOT.  Can we have it back?  That would be great, thanks, bye.

(believe it or not, I am leaving off SO MUCH about this car.  Even in the seven days that we had it, we did not get a chance to really immerse ourselves in all of its features, the technology built into this vehicle is nothing short of amazing.  For example, the car had bluetooth capability, connect your phone to your car and you can talk handsfree and anytime.)

Okay, I’m done now.

I think.

	Big Friend
	June 22, 2009 | Filed Under Being a Mama, Family, Friendly | 44 Comments

***The surgery is done, we have been home since 9:30 this morning and he is doing amazingly well.  He and I have enjoyed a three hour nap and lots of ice cream.  He’s also had a record number of popsicles, jello and yogurt today.  I think he thinks today is pretty awesome.  You know, besides the whole surgery/throat hurting part.   Daddy picked up a new Wii game today, they’re going over the rules right now.  Thanks for all of the well wishes, you guys are the best. ***

I was getting ready to post some photos and maybe a few stories about our family vacation, but then one of the pictures I came across was this one and well, I just want to write about him.

It’s very likely, I’m sure, that we are the only ones that think he is so unbelievably cute, but I’m pretty sure we are not alone.  I mean, LOOK at those eyes.

But if you were to meet him?  Oh my gosh, you would melt because he truly is the sweetest boy to walk this earth.  (I just know it.)  (Okay, maybe he’s in the top 10.  With your child, of course!)

Yesterday morning, we woke up in a hotel.  We always stay at Holiday Inn Express.  Ariel thinks we stay there for their wonderful warm cinnamon rolls, but really we stay there because we get a discount.  Brian took both the kids to grab some breakfast, Ariel, not surprisingly, chose a cinnamon roll, Racecar chose yogurt and a banana.

DANG HIM FOR BEING SO CUTE AND HEALTHY.

He’s a kisser and hugger and a sharer and a teacher and he’s completely patient.  When we went to the store to buy the kids fishing poles, they didn’t have any for boys, but they had them for girls.  Rather than throwing a tantrum because she got something he didn’t, we told him that we would had to go to another store and he said “okay…that’s fine.“  And continued on his merry way.

He has such a merry way.

Almost daily he says “this is the best day of my whole entire life.“  And almost daily he says “I love everybody in the whole world.”

I want to live like him  I want to love like him.

But sometimes he does want to punch scary monsters in the face because they are losers and he’s a winner.  But he only admits these things in the middle of night when he’s feeling a little bit frightened.

But mostly, he loves his Mom and his Dad AND his sister, “so so so so so so so so so much.”  And tells us we are the best.  And he usually tells me this first thing in the morning.  Can you imagine waking up to such ridiculous sweetness?  It’s amazing.

So, tomorrow, at 7 in the morning, we’ll arrive at the surgery center where they are going to put tubes in his wonderful ears and remove his adenoids.

A few months ago, Brian and I realized that he was having trouble hearing, after a few days of watching and “testing” we called a specialist.   He failed a hearing test and also has fluid in both of his ears. (after months of checking and rechecking)  Although Tuesday is going to be so hard on him, it’s going to be so good for him.  His hearing will return to normal as soon as the tubes are in.

Since he was a baby, Brian has called him “big friend.”  And he is just that…a big friend, with a big heart, big beautiful brown eyes and the most amazing big smile.

I can’t wait until we are back home tomorrow afternoon.