A First For Me

I've had a lot of medical oddness in my life. No, I won't explain. However, out of all of them I never had the pleasure of being dropped in my track by pneumonia til now. I started coughing this funny, wheezy, phlemless cough a couple of weeks ago along with my youngest boy. He's two and since he snuggles tons and his bed is in my room, not a surprise that he got sick. Everyone else seemed to have the luck of not being sick. A week into it, Mase started getting better, his cough lessened and he got snotty instead. I got snotty too, but where his was clear, mine was... um.. yuck. And my cough got rattly and up higher in my chest. from the start I thought I was experiencing a mild form of heartburn because I had pressure in my chest. This got worse when the cough got rattly.
Mase is not even coughing anymore, but last night I had a bad attack of coughing, so bad that I couldn't breath in again unless I did so VERY shallowly and talking was out of the question. I haven't had much of a voice but this knocked it out altogether. I felt like the seams between my skull plates were busting apart and my chest felt jammed between a rock and a hard place, the pressure was worse and turning to pain.
Of course, being my husband, Mike got really worried and wanted me to go to Urgent Care. Normally I am not a hysterical sort. I don't go to the doctor often. I actually hesitated, then agreed to go so that worried Mike even more. Good thing I went. I have pneumonia. Never had that before! I'm on a 5 day course of antibiotics the size of horse pills and an emergency inhaler. Never had one of those either.
I should be right as rain in 3-4 more days and thankfully I already feel much improved. I expected the pills to be the part I hated worst, but other than nausea they are being kind to me. The part I hate is the inhaler. It makes me woozy and my heart races and the taste UGH. It also messes with my voice, I sound all "follow the yellow brick road".

Vintage Victuals Giveaway!

A friend shared this yummy Vintage Victuals blog with me and I've been following it for a good while now. The recipes are really great, you should all give it a try! I know my family loves it... I intend to try onion pie next. Looks gooooood. But back to the point.
There is also a Vintage Victuals store on Etsy, where some delicious looking jar-recipes are available for sale like Nutty Fudge Brownies, Gingerbread Girl/Boy Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake, and the most intriguing to me... Buttermilk Spice Cake. I've never had anything like that and it sound warm and spicy and all sorts of good.

Why am I posting this? Vintage Victuals is having a give-away, 3 of those gorgeous jars. Personally, if I get them I'll be making gifts of them to some very special people. This year money isn't growing on trees and being a craft loving woman, my plan is to make this a Hand Made Christmas. Handmade by a vendor on Etsy and won free in a give-away fits my plan like a glove.

You really should go visit her store and blog, not only good recipes, but I like her way of posting, she seems nice. And yes, mom, I do think that counts. lol.

Fall in LaPine

Yesterday at about 3 pm I realized that it had been snowing for the last couple of hours the dogs had been outside. I rushed outside to get them and since I didn't see them right off, I looked out to the road where I expected them to be and yelled as loud as I could with a sore throat. Two lumps of snow jumped up and shook off as they came running. They were already completely covered!



The snow got worse overnight and the kids crammed together in my room on the floor. Mike had fallen asleep on the click-clack and resisted waking up, so I left him there. He woke at 4:30 am and barely stood up before the power went out. It was only out for an hour or so, there was a tree that went down in the snow and knocked out the power to our block. It got CHILLY for a while in the house but our room was toasty with all that body heat.

When we got up, Mike made cream of wheat and toast for the whole crew. It was so nice! I tend to miss him during the week and he has so much to catch up on most weekends that between kids and projects and work, I barely get any time. This weekend has been awesome. He didn't even have to shovel the drive in order to run an errand today because some wonderful neighbor plowed our drive for us anonymously. Still, we had to put on the chains to go check the mail and go to the bank.

Hair and other silly things

Since I've lost a couple sizes I've been excited about clothing again. Shoes too! Oh, to buy a sexy pair of shoes is AWESOME!. Soda is the devil and puffed my feet for years. Stopped drinking it and suddenly I can wear cute shoes. Of course that means a pedicure... which HAS to bring along a manicure.
Cute clothes, nice shoes, shiny nails, mom hair and no make up. Wait, what? Who likes clashing with your own clothing? I have been taking care of my skin since I had Mason. 27 is a little late to start, I know, but I suddenly developed undereye circles and my skin has taken on a look that flashed me back to my mom when I was 5. Not that she wasn't a pretty women, but it makes clear that I am still getting older on the outside even if I feel 24 on the inside.
I have been on a search for the right eyeshadow. Since I didn't wear it for most of my make up wearing years, I looked up colors and styles and brands. I faced that all important question of sparkle or no sparkle? Cream or powder? Shine or matte?
I found it, the perfect eye shadow for me. I brought it home and ripped the plastic off, too excited to care that it was 10 pm and I was headed no-where but bed. I followed the directions I had read so many times and applied my gorgeous new shadow. When I came out of the bathroom I felt something must have gone awry with my technique, it didn't look right. My dear, darling husband laughed at me. I believe the words goth, preteen, and hooker were brought into play.
OK, the makeup needs some work. So I'll start practicing. I was given a link to a video made for a website called Make Up Geek, it was good. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hair - I wanted to look like Sara Rue. I washed my hair and prepared to go get all glammed up. Sadly, Mike accidentally bypassed the salon and then when he made time for it, it was closed. Turns out it was ok to miss the haircut because we went over our grocery budget and my hair was not as important as food. Go figure.
Hey, if you have a suggestion for my hair, let me know! I still have time for deliberation before next payday.

Hey, there is life out here

Today the baby and I are sick. We've been a couple of weeks in getting there, but yesterday we lost the fight. I now have such a rough voice I could be a man in drag. My house is a mess. The kids are starting to take over and run the house like a lawless little group of Lost Boys.
My weight loss has ceased, but I'm just thankful I haven't GAINED. Not bee watching myself since I started feeling sick. Yeah, bad, I know, but who really wants to dissect a meal when you feel funky? I just want the food hot and on a plate. Mike is doing well, though, he is in a size smaller jeans! Woohoo! I told him it would pay off.
Since holidays are fast upon us, I suppose I should mention them in my little entry here. I was planning to take Thanksgiving to my Nanny and Dandad since they can't really do it themselves this year, but I was asked not to for the sake of peace and calm. Disappointing, to be sure, but at least the plans weren't set in stone and hey, there is always Mike's family, right?
Oh, try again!
My sister had started making plans that involved food. She got it... and now the plans have changed and she is left hanging. Nice of me. I feel good about myself for that. At least I have my in-laws to make a meal for. Oh, except I don't. Mike's parents are having a meal delivered and his sister and her children are going out of town for the holiday. That leaves me and Mike and the raggamuffins. Not awful, by any meals, but I was thinking on a bigger scale and it was sort of a let down to plan for 5 now. Truthfully, it's a relief. I'm not good at cleaning up pans, we would have had to make a bunch of little project deadlines and it's so much less stressful this way.
Christmas was supposed to be low key since we had a big Thanksgiving planned - that's changed too. Now my uncle Rob is coming out to see Nanny and Dandad and there is no way I'm missing that. I haven't seen him in years! Thankfully Mike has arranged for the time off :)
We've had so much cold. Snow and rain. Brrr. I have had to bring the dogs in the house for more than half the day lately and they need to have a water dish with a warmer soon. Thankfully, my stress over the power bill was premature. We have had a really reasonable bill these last two months and that is with temps below 24 degrees. As long as we are careful to shut off the heat and close the doors to rooms we aren't using and shut off lights when we leave a room, we can keep the bill about the same for the next 4 months. time to get the plastic on the windows though, they are a little draughty. The doors already got seals replaced and last night Mike fixed the front porch light - turns out that the people who 'remodeled' not only have vertigo, but they don't believe in grounding wires. Now that he upgraded that little gem of lighting, Mike shouldn't have to replace the bulb every week.

Water problems

We knew that buying a house would raise the stress level because of all of the upkeep, repairs, unexpected problems, etc. Of course, being first time home buyers, we tried to be smart and we took a class on home buying, we kept the book from the course and put it to use. Still, there is a lot we didn't know.
For instance, we don't know anything about pumps and wells. We know the water tests said the water was good. A few months after moving in we have grit in the pipes and a problem with the pressure because of the grit settling in the low spots of the pipes and clogging drains.
We knew the remodeling attempts here were inept, but the deeper we look we realize these morons messed with pipes, fixtures, insulation, and the well pump. No filter, WHO thinks that is ok? fortunately everything that need fixed can be done in steps and won't make the house unlivable.
Mike is getting some good use out of those home improvement books he started collecting a few years ago, lol. There are a few of these things we'll take care of in the next couple of weeks so that the house will be presentable for family we are having over during the holidays.
So - I guess our next sweat equity job is repairing the hole in the ceiling. Woohoo for learning how to hang drywall.
After that, we'll be replacing the fixtures in the downstairs bathroom, hopefully we can find a showerhead to make up for the low pressure.
I still can't get over how great it is to arrange my furniture in MY home and hang pictures or paint to my tastes without asking permission!