My baby got glasses today

Last week I received a letter from the school nurse stating Adam had failed his vision test and needed to be examined by an eye doctor. I called on Tuesday and the nurse stated that she had examined him twice (once in Sept. and once in Oct.) and he failed both times with 20/200 eyesight. I was really hoping he was having an off day.

I called to make an appointment with the local eye dr and explained the situation. They got us in on Thursday afternoon. We saw one of the new eye dr's, Dr. C. He was awesome. He had lots of patience with Adam which is a big plus because that made Adam tolerate the exam so much more. He did determine that Adam needed -3.75 in one eye and -3.50 in the other. So we found some cheap glasses and they said it would be Monday afternoon before we could pick them up. I went ahead and paid the extra to make sure they were shatterproof.

So after school today, Adam went and picked up his glasses. He wasn't too thrilled to have to wear them all the time. He is finding any excuse to take them off.

Here is my little ham in his new glasses.

Frugal Mom Giveaway

If you go to http://www.frugalmom.net/blog/ you will find all sorts of giveaways. Friday's giveaway is a $100 GC to Amazon.com and The Dotty Blossom Bag from Artsy-crafty Babe. So for your chance to win, please visit http://www.frugalmom.net/blog/.

The Pumpkin Patch

Adam's class went on their first field trip yesterday to the Pumpkin Patch. He was completely excited to pick out his "baby" pumpkin as the lady from FUMC called it. Adam was happy as a lark playing on the playground before hand but then he was less than thrilled when I offered to take individual pictures of the kids sitting on the hay bales with the scarecrow. His pictures tell it all. To the left is while playing on the playground. Notice he is happy because I am not paying attention to other children. To the right is his individual picture just like the other children. Now below is a picture of his baby pumpkin.

While he was there, every child received a bag with goodies in it and a flyer to tell how to keep their pumpkin's fresh. I never knew their was a way to keep them fresh so I will share the tip with you.

Keeping Jack Fresh

You can either purchase an anti-browning solution from the store of make your own. To make your own, you will need:

• 2 Tablespoons of Vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 1 quart of water

Now just mix ingredients together and brush over the carved areas.

Face Paint

• 1 teaspoon of cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon of cold cream
• food coloring
• small paintbrush or cotton swab

In small containers or a muffin tin, stir together the cornstarch and cold cream until thoroughly mixed. Add water and stir. Add food coloring one drop at a time until you get the color desired. Paint simple designs on face. Keep out of eyes. Remove with soap and water. Color mixing tips can be found on the food coloring box.

We're moving!!

Yeah!! We signed a contract on a house today. We are excited. We will close on it around the end of October beginning of November. So between working, soccer practice and games, I have to find time to start packing.


For those that have my sbcglobal email address please change that part to gmail.com and my email will continue to work once we get moved.

Dr's Offices

Ugh...what is the point of having an appointment? Seriously!! Lately, all I have done is wait when I go to see a dr. Today we had two appts. I had one at 10:10. I was there from 10am until 11:20 before they even took me to a room. I finally saw the dr about 11:45 and left at noon. Then that after noon Damon had an appt at 2:15 and it was 3:30 or 3:45 before he saw his dr. To make matters worse, we had Adam with us and he was antsy sitting in the small room. However, we did find a way to keep him entertained. The back of a guidepost had an advertisement for Aleve. See below:


Adam started trying to mimic these people. This kept him entertained for a good 30 minutes and of course on the two people letters I had to help out. I was so wishing I had my camera. LOL,

A Day at the Park

We went to park with my friend's kids today. I snapped a few shots of all the kids. I didn't really care for the pictures of my boys so I took some more of them when we got to the house.



These two pictures are Cody & Alyssa. Alyssa wasn't feeling too well but I think it still turned out pretty good. She is such a pretty girl. I'm going to try to do an actual photo shoot with her some time this fall.


Here are the pictures of Adam at the park. My focus was off so they aren't as sharp as they should have been.

Here are the pictures of my boys in there true element...the oldest and youngest avoiding the camera flash and Wade being the ham.

Sadie & Adam

Trying to catch Sadie in a decent photo is rare. She is a very spastic dog unless she is sleeping. So of course I caught her still while she was sleeping.

Of course, Adam is almost the same way. You practically have to bribe the child or catch him when he is not paying attention. I caught him while he was completely enthralled in a computer game.

Evacuees

The biggest problem evacuees are having in Carthage is finding shelter for their pets. I ran into these nice folks on the square today as they waited for Pretty Paws to open so that they could go check into their hotel room since the hotels would not allow pets.

These nice people were from Jasper and Hamshire, TX. They were only able to secure a room until Tuesday. Hopefully the hotel will allow them to stay longer.

Hurricane Gustav

Carthage is gearing up to help evacuee's that travel through our town. They have set up a refueling station for the buses that are transporting the evacuee's from down south. At around 12:30 today, the trucks were ready along with the National Guard and Sheriff's Office.

Troops line up for their orders.


Troops trying to find some shade.

Troops consult with Chief Bauske and Judge Anderson

The soccer field parking has turned into a make-shift evacuee area while the buses are refueling.

The truck is ready to refuel the first buses to arrive.

New pictures

So I decided to go take some random pictures this evening.


Here we have the old diving board or what used to be a diving board at the old swimming pool.


Then we have some fungus growing on a dead tree. It was actually really pretty.

And here we have a sink hole with caution tape around it.

And this...is thousands of tadpoles. It won't be long and we will have thousand of little frogs everywhere behind house. Oh boy, my boys will have a field day.

First day of school

Today was the first day of school. Everyone was up and dressed by 7:15am. So out the door we went to take the obligatory first day of school pictures.

1st pic...not quite what I had in mind.

Again...Ok guys...be serious.

And again, a little better but seriously Brian. One more time.

That is much better.

So off we go. We dropped Brian off. Then loop back around to drop Wade off. We finally made it to Adam's first day of Kindergarten. I think it was about 7:50 by the time we got to class. Of course we took a few pictures but Adam was being shy and didn't want to stay. We tried to get him to interact and he stuck to us like glue. He told me he wanted to go home. :( I almost cried at that point. Damon had to just get stern with him and tell him we had to go and he had to stay. He sat down and put his head on his desk.

Adam & Daddy Adam & Mama

He has yet to really say what he did today. I think he is mad at us for making him stay. He said he made two friends but he can't remember one of their names. So, we get to fight the horrible traffic again. Damon got in line at 2:30pm and he didn't get home until 3:30pm and we only live 5 minutes from the school. Thankfully, Brian and Wade walked home from school so we don't have to fight that traffic. Wade said he had fun. Brian said he is liking 8th grade already.

The Results are in

It is Benign!!!

I cannot tell you have relieved I am to hear that word. I go back in 6 months to have it reevaluated and to see if it has grown or if it is bothering me. If it is, then he will take it out.

Gotta love hormones and the crazy things you will do

As most know, I had a total hysterectomy last year. Well, the lack of hormones is wreaking havoc on me. I am having the constant hot/cold flashes. Well I have been so tired of being hot lately that I had my hair cut off. I don't regret it, it is just really different.





This is before and after.

Oh well, my hair will grow out.

What would you do?

I had an mri done back in March. A week after it was done I called and the nurse said the results were normal. I went for my 4 month follow up and the first thing the Dr. H says is that he wants to check my thyroid because my mri showed a cyst on my thyroid. He could feel it in my neck.

When I got back to work the ladies said that I should have requested a copy of the results. I was in such shock that I didn't ask any questions. I called back and had them fax me the copy of the report. Not only does the report say I have a cyst but the dr that read the results recommended that I have an u/s to investigate it further. WTF? The dr didn't feel it was important enough to call me or forward the results to my family physician?

Not only was there a cyst on my thyroid but there is also a cyst or polyp in my sinus cavity. Did he not feel that this could be a source of headaches? I have migraines all the time and that is why I even see Dr. H. I have decided not to see this dr anymore since he has had such disregard for my health.

I go Monday to see my family physician and Tuesday for an u/s of my thyroid. Pray that it is nothing or that it can be easily taken care of.

Awards Night

l to r: Marliese, Tanya, me, Nancy (our director) and Becky

Mary Kay has been very rewarding. Where else can you have an excuse to get together with your girlfriends and have fun with makeup? You also get prizes and recognition.


Tonight we had a lovely dinner at Celebrations on Crosslake in Shreveport, LA. We got to dress up fancy and have lots of fun with our Mary Kay family.

Update on Damon

Here is a follow up to this post. Damon is still off work. He has had lots of tests run and has seen 5 different physicians and no one can figure out what is wrong with him. He is now going to go to the VA so we will not have to pay for anything.

He still has the chest pain and extreme fatigue especially upon exertion.

Austin

I recently made a trip to Austin and overall it was a good trip. I went with a friend to attend a seminar with the TCFV (Texas Counsel on Family Violence) Survivor's Caucus. I went as a Mary Kay Consultant to help pamper the ladies that have been victims of domestic violence.


The TCFV put us up in the Marriott which was really nice. We went down on Friday evening. On our way, we stopped to visit with Stacie and to see her beautiful home and her new son. He is so precious. He was unhappy when we got there and only his mama could make him happy. This is a picture of Blake. He looks scared to death.





On Saturday after the seminar, we decided to go eat at the Texas Land & Cattle. If you have never eaten there, be warned that it is pricey. It was good and the service was great but man for an appetizer, iced tea, meal and dessert it was $35 for one person.



On Sunday, we made our way to the Capital. On the drive down Congress Ave., we saw quite a few interesting sites. I think the funniest site had to of been the Superman on the side of the road. We stopped to take a picture and realized that it wasn't a statue but rather a person. I told Shawn to wave at him to see if he would wave back and he did. It wasn't long before the public transportation arrived and Superman got on the bus.



Where we stopped to take a picture of superman just happened to be a really cool plant nursery. There was a beautiful water wheel with the name The Great Outdoors on it. We decided to go look around because it just looked so inviting and beautiful. Inside we found lots of interesting things. There were huge windchimes, metal sculptures, beautiful plants, and a huge elephant made out of fertilizer.

After we spent about an hour of explore The Great Outdoors, we decided to head on down to the capital. We explored the capital and grounds for about two hours and decided it was time to head home. If you have never been, I highly recommend it. Books really do not do it justice. The is so much intricate detail in the design of the capital right down to the hinges. Here are pictures from the Capital.
This was the view walking up to the capital.

This was the few from the 2nd floor looking up towards the dome.

Here was a waste of taxpayer's money. This chandelier's light bulbs
spelled T-E-X-A-S. There were two of them in the Senate.

Notice the detail on the doorknobs.

And all of the hinges looked like this.

Here was one of the many gorgeous fountains out front.