08/14 10th wedding anniversary and 100th post!!!!

We are celebrating our 10th year of marriage today. I feel so truly blessed and proud that we are still together. We were married in my mom's back yard. I let my mom arrange EVERYTHING (thanks Mom!!). We had a potluck and ate with paper plates and plastic silver ware. My cake was made by one of my mom's friends and my bouquet was made by her neighbor. My mom's uncle who was a minister (God rest his soul) married us. I wore a used $100 wedding dress (I was frugal even back then). I still have my original 1/4 carat princess cut engagement ring and $75 wedding band (I wear them on a chain around my neck because I had them sized up when I was 40 lbs. heavier and they fall off my finger now). It rained the morning of our wedding which is said to be good luck. Is it luck that we are still together after all we have been through in 10 short years?
No cake smooshing. That wouldn't be nice.





Look at the expression on Stephen's face. It like he is thinking,"Mom, Dad, you have no idea what you are getting yourselves into!"





We didn't jet off to some exotic location after the wedding reception. We went back to our day to day life of work and raising our son. Our son was diagnosed with Autism shortly after our wedding. He now has an additional diagnosis of Epilepsy. We've been through so much with our daughter as well. After birth she spent 10 days in the NICU with Pneumonia and was diagnosed with GERD. She has since been diagnosed with Asthma, Segmental Neurofibromatosis and ADHD. All this on top of everyday challenges, job changes, trying to make ends meet, normal getting to know you arguments that every couple has, horrible apartments run by horrible land lords and moving MANY times, car accidents, quitting smoking, our own health issues and health scares.....




They say you don't see the strength of a tree until there is snow on its branches.




I'm not a bible reader but this framed quote was given to us as a wedding gift and it still sits on the night stand on my side of the bed-




Love is patient.
Love is kind.
It does not envy,
it does not boast,
it is not proud.
It is not rude,
it is not self-seeking,
it is not easily angered,
it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects,
always trusts,
always hopes,
always perseveres.

Love never fails.

-1 Corinthians 13:4-7




I really believe that all you need for a happy marriage is love. We just really love each other and our children.




Would I do it all over again if I could go back in time knowing all the challenges we would face? Yes, in a heart beat.

Facebook, bargain shopping, gardening, appointments, ADHD...

I haven't blogged in a while for a number of reasons.

1-Discovered facebook! Anyone who is on facebook doesn't need any explanation of where my time has gone. If you aren't on facebook, well, go there now and find out how easy it is to spend hours on there.

2-Appointments for the kids! This month alone has 3. 2 were an hour away round trip. By the way, it is official and in writing that my daughter has ADHD. Now I have the fun task of getting her evaluated by her school. They will not make it easy. Nothing is easy in this school district when you are trying to make them provide the services your child needs and they are required by law to provide. Fun times : (

3-Fighting tomato blight and general gardening. All this bloody rain almost killed my tomato plants and they are all still green! I had to pull two off because of catfacing and one because it was rotting from the inside out. I have stripped probably half the branches off of all of the plants in an attempt to save them from the blight that tried to kill them.

4-Sales, sales, sales! I actually bought myself some new clothing last week! I am a cheapo and usually buy used clothing but found stuff I really liked brand new that fit and was on sale so I stocked up. Love the clothes, hate trying on stuff and all the running around it requires. Wonder why I wear the same shirt in 10 different colors with plain old jeans? It's efficient. I am no fashion plate. Also, there have been incredible sales at the pharmacies and grocery stores. All very time consuming.

5-Our basement has flooded twice in the past week because of all the rain.

6-We bought a Wii sport and it is incredibly fun! Also bought the Star Wars Lego complete and even bought the light sabors for the controllers. And recently bought the Sports Resort with motionplus. Very fun!!

And of course all the other day to day stuff I take care of has been happening. Still feeling very tired and like I just want to lay on the couch and watch t.v. But I have errands to run, slugs to hunt, a house to clean, laundry to wash, dry and fold; forms to fill out.........

Mommy's alone time=sleep deprivation

I haven't felt this sleep deprived since my kids were babies. I feel like my eyes are filled with sand (thanks Sandman) and my limbs are full of lead. I love having time with Olivia during the summer while Stephen is in school. However, I require a larger than normal amount of "alone time", maybe that's just me or I have undiagnosed Asperger's, who knows. I just need to be alone, a lot. Well, with Olivia home all day and Stephen on one of his go to bed late cycles (got to get me some Melatonin) I have been staying up until 1 a.m and getting up at 6 a.m. That may be an easy feat for a twenty-something college girl but I am a going on 4o busy mommy.

I'd love to take a nap but I don't do naps unless my body literally makes me pass out. I have too much to do EVERYDAY and naps aren't an option. I usually only take a cat nap on the recliner couch at night or on the weekend when Pat is here and I know that if I fall asleep I won't wake up to find a disaster or someone bleeding from acrobatics or an accident.

My daughter also can't understand why I won't play with her all day. She has no clue how hard I work as a homemaker. She sees me do everything I do but her little 7 year-old brain doesn't grasp that without me doing all the things I am responsible for that we would have nothing to eat, nothing clean to wear, no money, be sicker than we already are and live in a dump.

Are any of you stay at home moms in the same state of sleep deprivation? How do you get your alone time when the kids are home during the summer?

Happy birthday to me!

Check me out on NATURALLYYANTAN

Check me out and all the other natural beauties on NATURALLYYANTAN

http://naturallyyantan.blogspot.com/2009/07/natural-beauty-7.html

Neurology, tummy troubles, sick hubby and shopping...

Stephen had a Neurology check up this morning. Pat woke up really sick. I can't drive in the city. I love my hubby and hated making him drive us but I just can't do it. I got rear ended really bad in November on my way home from taking Stephen to the dentist. I am terrified to drive in that city. I still have back pain every day. Of course today my back was screaming before my feet hit the floor. I also had tummy troubles that were very similar to when I ruptured an ovarian cyst a few months back. I won't go into details but let me just say that it included lots of trips to the bathroom at first, followed by waves of pain that make you feel like you need the bathroom but don't for a few hours. If there wasn't always a year long wait list for this appointment I would have canceled.


So we made it to the appointment in one piece. Pat and Olivia waited in car. Everything went well and I even managed to get my daughter her Neurology appointment that she has been wait listed for for almost 6 months. I wouldn't have even mentioned it to the receptionist if it wasn't for the fact that the Neurologist will be the one to order the MRI of her head and the lump on her back. The lump on her back concerns me. Not only did I get an appointment in August but it will be with Stephen's doctor : )


We hit BJ's on the way home. Stephen did really well. No headphones. He found a nursery rhyme book and Pat found a 2nd one for him. Stephen also picked out two kids educational computer software cds. Olivia picked out a 3 pack of Hannah Montana chapter books. It amazes me how well she reads!


We got back to town and my Hefty coupons had come in so after lunch Olivia and I went bargain hunting. Stephen was still in his room enjoying his new stuff. Pat, Olivia and I rented The Pink Panther 2 On Demand. Very funny : ) Pat almost made it to the end before he fell asleep. He has seen only 50% or 75% of most movies we have watched in the past couple of years. He works so hard and gets so little sleep and our recliner couch is way too comfy.

I got Olivia upstairs to get ready for bed and went downstairs to put clothes in the dryer. He let Olivia put his p.j.'s on. I didn't ask her to do it, she just wanted to. Such a sweet kid. I went on the computer and thought I heard Olivia talking. I went upstairs and she was reading Stephen's new books to him : ) He has wanted us to read to him for the past two nights. He made me read at least half of a 176 page Mother Goose book to him last night. We are working on using a bookmark to show him that we will come back to that page and finish reading the book or read more the next day. Pat read the other half of that book to him this morning even though he was sick as a dog.

He has been wanting to point out, have us point out or make us point out the words as we read them. He also wants to see what we are writing whenever we are writing something. I think he is slowly seeing that the written word or words on a page are a form of communication that he needs to master through his own reading and writing ability.

The day started out really yucky but got better as the day went on. My kids behaved well and were nice to each other. More days like this please, if anyone is taking orders. Minus the yucky beginning of course : )

The bees have arrived!!!

Before today I had only seen 2 bees in our yard since we moved here. When Olivia and I were out in the yard earlier, she noticed about 4 bees in the grass. I finally got some new bee photos!!

Hey geeks, what's your AQ?

How geeky are you? This is just for fun and not to diagnose you officially with anything.

http://www.piepalace.ca/blog/asperger-test-aq-test

I found the link above on the blog The Puzzle Room http://thepuzzleroom.blogspot.com

I scored a 44. Big surprise. What's your score?

My first blog interview!

Check out my interview on Black girl with long hair
http://blackgirllonghair.blogspot.com/2009/07/sunday-retrospective-i-follow-bglh.html

Grillin' and chillin'

After our basement flooded with 3 inches of water Friday night (After midnight, had to wake up hubby for help, not fun), we needed to chill and grill. We survived our last attempt at grilling so we figured we would give it another shot. I admit I am getting addicted to grilling. This grill we built also brings back all those hillbilly memories of my daddy grilling on a very similar grill made out of bricks and on a hill (oh lord, hillbilly,LOL!!!). I have to laugh at the thought that people drop hundreds of dollars on a propane grill and ours was $12 (grill price) and the food cooks great and tastes yummy : )

I made a whole meal on the grill! Chicken shish kabobs, BBQ for me and Pat and plain for the kiddos with a foil packet of zucchini, summer squash and organic (didn't have any other kind of vidalia) vidalia onions in margarine, salt and ground pepper. I admit I am still concerned about the food being cooked enough and overcooked this meal a bit but it was still tasty.




Gettin' addicted to s'mores. I just have to have them after every grilled meal!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Are any of you grillin' addicts? Got any good advice for us? Any funny grillin' stories?