Forever

As in, it's been forever since I've posted something.
Really, my cop out is this. Remember how the desktop got that virus? Well, Scott fixed it and then the whole hard drive crashed two days after that. So, I haven't blogged because I like to blog with pictures and I haven't downloaded the software on the laptop yet.
Also, I am using a dinosaur of a laptop at this moment. Which is, I swear, the same exact laptop that Tom Hanks uses in the movie "You've Got Mail". It freezes up about every 20 minutes or so.
I have been able to use Scott's newer laptop for the past few days. This is because I have some good news! Scott found a second job! He is working in the same capacity as he is now (with mentally handicapped people), but with a different company. He has been working on call for them, then started full time this week. If all goes well in securing the two clients in a house, he'll be a house manager next month over his own home. So, his schedule is like this right now.

Monday- Thursday 7am-3pm
Thursday 6pm-7am (Friday morning)
Friday 7am-3pm
Friday 5pm-9am (Saturday morning)
Saturday 9pm-8am (Sunday morning)

Kinda crazy I know, but he really likes his job. Besides the fact that there aren't many jobs hiring right now, there is job security in this field. Health care seems to be one field that is growing, instead of downsizing.
We are hoping to be able to move soon. We were hoping to sell a business property that would give us a down payment right now to look for one, but that isn't happening. So, we'll have to save for one and hope that our dream home comes up for sale next year. We get pickier and pickier as we see all the good deals go by. My brother-in-law is a realtor and shows us how much house you can get for a cheaper price now. I sometimes avoid looking because I start pining.

We are without hot water and water to the washing machine right now. The water heater started leaking even more and the whole basement had water in it. I sucked most of it up last night and we bought a new water heater, but we need to find someone that can install it. We have a friend in church that can do it, but we're trying to figure out scheduling.

So, besides the stinky water heater issue, life is looking up! Scott has decent work, I have another Pampered Chef show coming up, I started a new eating plan for the next six weeks, and Scott has tomorrow night off so we can go camping at the church camp out!

Keeping the Sparkle in Your Marriage

There was a mini class I attended at a church Relief Society event about marriage. I came across this list I had kept from the class and thought I would share. Read it with your spouses and maybe you'll both get some ideas!

Keeping the Sparkle in Your Marriage

1. Express appreciation to your spouse for little things he/she does that you often overlook.
2. Say three nice things about your partner today- to your partner.
3. Touch your partner non-sexually three times today, just to show you care.
4. Try a little humor. Think of something funny, a joke or something cute about your kids.
5. Make his favorite dessert this week.
6. Buy her a few flowers on the way home from work.
7. When shopping, buy your spouse a 'treat', just so he/she knows you're thinking of him/her.
8. Ask her today one thing you could do that would make her happy.
9. Offer your services in helping with the children before bed time.
10. Open the car door for her.
11. Hold her hand.
12. Tell your spouse he/she looks nice today.
13. Call him/her from work just to say hello.
14. Go out on a date together once a week.
15. Leave town together (without the kids) every four months.
16. Leave town as a family for vacation twice a year.
17. Say thank-you for meals prepared.
18. Surprise your partner with a night out on the town, reservation at a local motel, or a birthday party.
19. Hug your partner twice a day.
20. Leave a little note that says thanks or expresses appreciation or love.
21. Develop a hobby or outdoor activity together.
22. Do something with or for your spouse, even if you don't want to.
23. Take a walk around the block with your partner daily.
24. Tell the kids how much you appreciate their mother or father.
25. Sneak a snack into your bedroom that the two of you can eat without giving it away to the kids.
26. Do a chore around the house, even if it's not your agreed upon responsibility or turn.
27. Give her an extra $20, just to spend on herself.
28. Take the phone off the hook so you can just be together.
29. Designate six hours of one day a week as spouse care time.
30. Tell your partner he/she still excites you.
31. Spend 20 minutes each evening reviewing the day and just chatting informally.
32. Watch a TV program together, side by side.
33. Say something decent when you first meet at the end of the work day.
34. Ask how you can assist with dinner and housework, instead of making demands.
35. Call your wife and tell her to forget dinner- you're taking her out to eat.
36. Tell your spouse you appreciate all that he/she does for you.
    

Seriously Salad

I posted the Sweet Onion, Tomato, and Cuke Salad on our recipe blog here.
It is seriously so good! It was gone in a flash..I ate almost the whole bowl. No kidding.
This is the perfect lettuce-less summer side salad. Try it! It would be great at a picnic or potluck.

Boon Products on discount at Hautelook!

I signed up with Hautelook. They have designer items discounted. Some are still too steep for me, but some are awesome deals!
They have Boon on sale there.
This animal bag is 29.99 from 59.99!

And the bath scrubbles are 5.99!

They also have toddler utensils, snack pods, and dishes.
Visit Hautelook and join, get this deal, and to be notified of future sales!

Floods, Viruses, Blood, Battery Acid and No Husband

Sounds like a plague, right? Nope, all in my wonderful week so far.
This is how it went.
Sunday morning Scott left to go on a canoe trip with his brother. Sunday was fine, Monday was fine, even though Pixie kept me up that night.
I decided to get the house organized a bit more and clear some stuff out for him while he was gone.

Tuesday
I packed up the SUV with boxes that have been cluttering our basement. I get a lot of Frontier and Pampered Chef boxes, along with anything else that comes in the mail. I ran some errands, picked up Scott's work check, then headed out on the 40 minute drive to my mom's house. I gave her the boxes to use as weed control in their garden, then took mom into town to take her shopping, since she doesn't have a working vehicle still. We stopped to deposit checks at the bank. I turned off the SUV to save gas and it wouldn't start again when we were done. Scott had mentioned that he thought the starter was going because it didn't start well for him once, but he didn't think it was a big deal. Mom went straight for the battery and there was our problem. Battery acid build up. We didn't have any tools because Scott took them out of the SUV, so the bank tellers sent out a man to help us out. Long story short, he got a tool and wiggled it while I started it. Then we went to Walmart where mom got a pair of pliers and sandpaper to clean it off. My mom is amazing.

Wednesday
I started clearing more of the basement out. We've had phantom leaks down there. One we think is from he bathtub seal, but it comes and goes. About a week ago Scott told me that he thought the water heater overflowed through the drain pipe and got water all over. There was a nice little stream when I went down there, but I didn't have enough time to do everything because Pixie woke up from her nap. She can hear everything in the basement as well.
After her nap, we went to Target and Sam's Club. Scott finally called me, he hadn't had reception, and Pixie freaked out every time I took the stroller into a store.
That night I noticed blood all over the kitchen floor. Perrin had split one of his paws and was bleeding all over. Lovely.
That night I was up with Pixie too.

Thursday
I baked bread and made 2 dozen cookies for the blood drive that afternoon. During Pixie's nap I again attempted to tackle more of the basement. Got a bit done, but Pixie woke up after 40 min. Shoot. While I was down there I investigated the water heater after finding another lovely stream of water. I couldn't find any moisture coming from the overflow pipes, so I went around to the other side...lo and behold..the middle of the entire seam that holds it together is bursting apart. It is a gas one and they are a lot more expensive. Heaven knows we don't need this right now. I wasn't too keen on Scott going on this canoe trip, as I'm not buying even much food right now and living off food storage until he finds an additional job, but he promised his little brother months ago that he'd go. So, I'm going to go down to the basement today and remind myself where the shut off valve is, just in case it blows.
Later that day I dropped Pixie off at Becca's while I went to the church blood drive.
It was my first time donating. I went in, everything was fine, my iron count was 14.8. I was really happy about that because being a vegetarian, iron is a question I get a lot. Ugh.
Everything was great the whole time I was donating. One of the other ladies got sick and almost passed out. That's because it was too hot in there, you need it to be 68 degrees and the people asked didn't make sure it got there. Anyway, she felt like a total wuss. Until I was done donating.
So, I was almost done..great! My Red Cross girl, Essence, did a great job and she was going to check on someone else and come back to finish me up. There was this other girl (whom I found out later was new) that came over, told me I was done, clamped the tube, and walked away. I started to feel like there was an anxiety attack coming on, then I was dizzy so they laid me down. Almost immediately after that I got nauseous and said I was going to throw up. I didn't have much time to react, the vomit came coughing up and it went up my nose, on my shirt a little, then the girl brought over the trash and it oozed down the side of my face, thankfully mostly in the trash. They wouldn't let me up, even though I felt fine after that, so I had to lay there smelling like barf, with vomit in my nose leaking into my throat. Finally they let me sit up, then let me go. Gross. But, I made it!! I guess there is something that happens to your body when the blood stop flowing and it makes you sick. Combined with the heat, I was a goner.

I went back home and felt a little shaky later, but was okay. I parked in the parking lot up the street and across the way since they are sealing our road today. It takes two days to do it and it's dry by that evening, but the lovely city road crews decided to make those two days Friday and Monday, so we can't drive on our street the entire weekend. Anyway, that parking lot is owned by my brother-in-law who owns a salon by appointment only. The woman at the salon will have you towed if you park there without being a customer. So I called him to ask permission and he said he would leave her a note. I put a note on my car saying I had permission to be there, just in case he forgets.
Last night I needed something to wind me down to get ready for bed. I usually talk to Scott, but he's out of cell phone battery, so I've been watching "How I Met Your Mother". I finished all the new episodes the other day, so I decided to see what the "Big Bang Theory" was all about. I went to a site I normally go to to watch videos and watched the first episode. All at once I got windows security warnings that I had been attacked with trojan horses, spyware, and worms. Great, just great. I remembered that Scott did something to the virus protection last week and got rid of a program he was told interfered with it. I don't know if that was the cause or not. I tried to run the virus scan in safe mode, but it didn't do any good. Now the desktop is out of commission until Becca's husband, James, fixes it for me.

This morning I went to step on the scale to see if I lost more than that one pound this week, with all the stress, and to top everything off...my scale battery is dead.

You know that feeling where you are worried you will forget something? Now imagine worrying not only that you will forget everything, but that your husband will too. I even have to remind him to go to work sometimes. I realized today that this is one of the reasons I feel so stressed. I put reminders in my phone for trash day and some other things. I am going to make Scott start taking brain function herbs as well and see if it will help. Of course, that'll be one more thing I have to remember. Wouldn't be nice to have an assistant to remember everything for you?

I just took a break from posting, woke up Pixie from her nap early to go babysit Becca's kids while she goes to her doctor's appointment. I walked all the way up to the parking lot and the driver's side wouldn't unlock. Finally got it unlocked, then got Pixie in, only to find out that it won't start again. Now the SUV is stuck in that parking lot and Pixie didn't have a full nap, plus Scott's laptop erased part of my post and it was saved over. What next? I feel like crying. In fact, I did a little.

May Pictures

Here are some pictures from last month.
My mom's birthday was May 30th. I made her a cake, which was nice because she usually has to make her own! I also made her some sesame "chicken" out of Quorn (she's allergic to soy) and bought her some organic cotton string bags to collect their bounty from their garden.

Pretty huh? It was pretty good too. I'll post the recipe on our recipe blog!

I had gone shopping for myself and my mom the night before we went to their house. I was trying to fit everything in the refrigerator and freezer...and I hadn't cleaned it out yet..sorry for that! Anyway, I looked down and realized that Pixie was inside the refrigerator pulling out yogurt and trying to eat it through the lid.

Pixie has recently claimed her office space. She loves the dog cages, but she had a fight with the Swiffer that lasted for a couple days because she couldn't get it in there.

It's so funny, she'll bring a book, a toy, and her sippy cup in there. She shuts the door and does her own little thing!

It's Memorial Day!

Okay, I'm quite a bit late in posting this, but I thought some of you would enjoy seeing pictures.
We went up to the lake house on Sunday night and Becca's family joined us. Our friend, Danny, joined us on Monday. Everyone else left on Monday and we stayed Tuesday night, just with our little family.
We brought Perrin and Nova and Becca's family brought their dog, Romeo, with them. There were already 3 dogs when we got there because Scott's brother's family was there and we didn't know they were staying the night. All SIX dogs were fighting with each other and one of their little dogs barked all night. I was so surprised when Pixie slept through the entire night!

Here was Perrin having the time of his life!


And then here he is again. He was being terrorized by Romeo, so he hid and went to sleep in a bed of poison ivy.

All the boys were having a grand ol' time in the lake. This is Danny making a shot.

And James..

And Scott..we also have a jumping shot of him, which he proudly made.

Pixie and her Aunt Becca

Lion got almost all the way over to the other side, then felt a fish...
look at his face of terror!

Good Uncle Scott brought him back

Lounging (Professor is in there too)..

Lion and Princess drying off

The men making fire..

It's so nice when her aunt takes her!