End of Summer Break

Summer has gone by in a blur. Lots of Farmer's Markets to go to, although I didn't go. But there was bread to make and bake, tortillas, pretzels, and sometimes something else. By the end of the season, I figured out I could mix up 12 loaves of bread at a time by hand. Definitely saved some time with all the mixing! :-).

This past Sunday, Momma, James and I went to Atlanta for James to get his g-tube out early Monday morning. He was actually Dr. Parker's first surgery for the day. When Dr. P came to tell us James was in recovery, he also said that he'd had to make a bigger cut than usual, because of the gastric-colic fistula he'd had in March 2007. James, he said, would need a stronger antibiotic, but could take it at home. I asked if it would cause diarrhea and he said it would. Dr. P then told us that he could also admit James for an overnight and give him IV antibiotics that wouldn't cause diarrhea. We opted for an overnight. James was a huge apple juice fiend while we were there. On Monday alone, he drank 20 or so 4oz. boxes of apple juice!
I slept with him in the hospital bed, so Momma could rest for the trip home on Tuesday. I seriously think that the nurses and tech turned on ALL the lights everytime they came in. But what surprised me most, was the tech waking me up to ask if I minded changing James' diaper.  When he had his ileostomy take-down in June, the nurses and techs would change his cloth diapers without waking us up. And this time, I didn't bring enough diapers since I thought we wouldn't be there that long and he was in pull-ups. He's doing fine now, but has a small diaper rash.

I've been working on my math. With all of James' stuff in the last couple years, we've all fallen behind. I'm 'racing' through my current math book to finish it by my goal of Thanksgiving. I'm enjoying algebra, but sometimes I struggle with algebraic sentences.

I was reading through some old posts on this blog and noticed a post where I said my least favorite task was meal planning. I don't think it was intentional, but I've been doing all the meal planning lately and actually enjoying it. Momma even let me make the shopping list and do the shopping at Dekalb International Farmer's Market on Tuesday. It worked out well that we met a online friend of Momma's on Sunday at the Market and I was able to get prices for my list and work out how much I could get with the money I had. I did end up $1.58 over my budget because I'd forgotten about tax for the bag of rice. Oh well, something to remember for next time :*).


We also enjoyed visits with several families this summer. One family came a couple times... they have two little ones. Zeke is almost 3, but his speech is so much clearer than James'. James loved to play with Zeke and he doted on Lily Beth, their little girl. I think everyone loved having them visit. Becca and Carrie thought it was fun to take Zeke outside and run races up and down the driveway. He's a pretty good runner and kept up to them most of the time.


In October, we took a day trip up to North Georgia to see Nona and Poppa and pick up apples. Momma, Katie, James and I sang most of the way up and Daddy, Owen and Becca worked on math. Carrie decided to read a book!







I also got my hair cut late October. Katie wanted her hair cut and I wanted to get mine cut to send to Locks of Love again... So we cut each others' hair. I didn't realize how much mine would curl after we cut it. We thought it would end up shoulder length.  Apparently not.

For my 17th birthday, I was able to do something I've been thinking about since I was 15. Turns out that I could have done it when I was 16, but... I wasn't sure how it all worked and didn't want to call and ask. Momma had to make a trip to Macon and since Katie didn't have to go, she was able to keep everyone else and I was able to donate blood. I was a bit nervous that my hemoglobin would be too low to donate since it has to be 12.5 or higher, but it was fine. I was excited to be able to do it and it went quicker than I thought it would. I did learn that it's a good idea to take some sort of snack because water isn't quite enough. I'm hoping that it will work out so I can donate again in the beginning of December... Anyone want to join me? :*). 

Hoping everyone enjoyed their summers too.

♥, Hannah

Pure in Heart Award

Thank you Hannah for thinking of me!

Here are the rules!

Post about the tag
2. Pick 10 bloggers who deserve this award
3. Leave a comment on the blogs of the people you tagged letting them know they were awarded
4. Answer the questions along with your post

1: Apples, Oranges or Bananas? Bananas!

2: How many siblings do you have? 6! K (18), O (14), B (10), C (7) and J (5 going on 2)

3: How old are you?  16

4: Do you live on/in a prairie, woodland, swamp, city or other? Other. We live on a big sand pile! :)

5: Scissors or glue? Scissors... we don't have any glue in the house! And if we did, J would be sure to dump it....

6: Describe your dream house.  I don't really know... except I'd like to have lots of closet space and a big kitchen.

7: Is your room clean? Seriously? yes and no...


8: If you could be a movie character for a day, who would you be? I don't think I'd want to be any female character.... but I would love to be a fly on the wall in the same room as Sherlock Holmes.

9: Italy, Greece, France, Spain or England? I'd love to go to Italy and France!

10: What denomination are you? Presby-Baptil-Costal ;)

11: Do you sleep with a stuffed toy (BE HONEST!!!!)  No... When I have slept with a stuffed toy, it lands on the floor besides the bed!

12: Gum, chocolate, or jelly beans? dark chocolate wrapped in a date. Not that you asked, but....

13: What is your favorite book? There's more than one.... However, one of my current favorites is To Have and To Hold.

14: Favorite ice cream flavour? Mint Chocolate Chip

15: If you had to eat one type of food for two weeks, what would that food be? Hamburgers!

16: What is your favorite Olympic sport? I love to watch the skating... when we do 'watch' the Olympics.


17: If you woke up and discovered that you had turned into Miley Cyrus for the day, what would you do (note, I am NOT a fan)? Um... stay in bed? (somehow I don't think that would go over well with the rest of my family!)

18: Describe yourself in three words. Competitive, Curious, Cautious

19: What chore do you hate? meal planning... 

20: If Elmo came into your room with a gun, what would you do? I have no clue.... by the way, who is Elmo? :)


I'm awarding this to:

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

McKenzie @ Pecan Pastures
Lauren E. @  Lauren E.'s Blog
Shelby @ Shelby's Everyday Homeschool Blog 
Abigail @ Amazed by Grace
Lydia @ Something Beautiful
Hannah W. @ Hannah's Blog

James is being discharged from the hospital this afternoon. We're currently in the library and James is drawing on a DoodlePro board. We'll be staying at the Ronald McDonald House tonight and then slowly make our way home tomorrow! yay!

American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God

Here's a quote I found on Facebook, that I really enjoyed!  Number 7 of What Southerners know about was my favorite!  

"A southern girl is a girl who knows full well that she can open a door for herself but prefers for the gentleman to do it because it demonstrates a sense of respect. After all, every girl wants to be treated like a princess. We know how to make sweet tea and grits. We pick our battles and fight with the heart of a pitbull while still maintaining grace and elegance. Our mystique is that of the soft-spoken, mild- mannered southern belle who could direct an army, loves her mama and will always be a daddy's girl."

What southerners know about:
1. The difference between a hissie fit and a conniption fit.
2. What general direction cattywumpus is.
3. That "gimme sugar" don't mean pass the sugar.
4. When somebody's "fixin" to do something, it won't be long.
5. A good dog is worth its weight in gold.
6. Real gravy don't come from the store.
7.The War of Northern Aggression was over state rights, not slavery.
8.When "by and by" is.
9.The difference between "pert' near" and "a right far piece."
10.The differences between a redneck, a good ol' boy, & trailer trash.
11.Never to go snipe hunting twice.
12.A belt serves a greater purpose than holding Daddy's pants up.
13.Rocking chairs and swings are guaranteed stress relievers.
14.Rocking chairs and swings with an old person in them are history lesson

"When life hands you a lemon put it in a glass of sweet tea and thank God you're a SOUTHERN GIRL!!"

credit: American by Birth, Southern by the Grace of God!!!

The Little Man

J really loves to dress up in a suit and tie (the tie is probably the most important, since he thinks it makes him look like Daddy, even though Daddy rarely wears one.) Yesterday, we were looking for an outfit J could wear today to Atlanta for an appointment and J found a tie. We pulled out a suit J was given back in 2007 (he was almost 3 then) and it still fits him, probably because he's gotten taller and slimmed down from all the steroids.

B, C, and I took J outside and got some pictures of him all dressed up with the new camera from Grandpa John and Grandma Nan (Thank you so much!)

I do have some more pictures to post, but they are on the other computer, so they will have to wait for right now! But they are some great pictures of things we've been doing around here! 

Hannah

♥♥♥You know........♥♥♥

that you know too much about medical things when you:

• restart the little guy on anti-fungal meds without talking with the doctors
• have to explain to the home health agency person on the phone that you need a catheter, ileostomy bags, g-tube supplies, and more ostomy clips
• miss giving a dose of antibiotic and don't worry about making it up
• recognize yeast starting under the ostomy bag

J has been getting too big for the paper diapers and we've wanted to switch to cloth diapers, but couldn't find one that the size charts said would fit him and give that extra leeway we needed for his ileostomy bag. And to tell the truth, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the diaper choices out there. I mean, there are pockets, fitted, contour, covers, inserts, doublers, etc.... and how is one suppose to know what's what?!?!  As part of a homeschool project and (kinda of a stress reducer for me) Momma and I have been working on a review and giveaway blog. Through twitter, I've met several moms who cloth diaper their babies, and one mom in particular has been really helpful. A week ago, she sent us a cloth diaper she had for us to use on J. It fit him perfectly, with room to spare. When I first put the diaper on J, he gave this big sign of relief and was so upset when we had to take the diaper off to wash it. The same night the diaper came, Momma and I found a site and ordered him 12 more of the same kind of diapers. They came this Monday and we washed them that night and since Tuesday, J has been in cloth diapers all the time.

Something I've learned with cloth diapers is, you can't judge how much they wet the diaper by feeling it, while they are still wearing said diaper. I left J in a cloth diaper for 6 hours and pushed fluids, because I thought "he isn't drinking enough, he's still really dry!"... When I took the diaper off, it was slightly wet soaked!!!

I'm waaayyyy behind on school and today, I asked Momma if I could stop the book I'm currently working on since I'm over 2/3 of the way through and so now I'm working on a placement test to see which book I will/can move too.  I love the thrill and tension of math, but it sometime seems that I've already seen that particular problem multiple times before.

Did you know that there are degrees in Graphic Design? I didn't... but I do enjoy some of the benefits that come from graphics, coupled with a well-designed site. I was looking at a program for graphic design that some blog designers use and then I noticed the price tag.......... over $600 dollars for this one software program! Ouch!


We've been doing some cleaning around here and I was told that our my nightstand that K and I share was a (putting it mildly) big mess. So, I spent some time cleaning it out and sorting through our piles. I came across my journal from our trip to Minnesota in 2008 and read through it. Something I had written down was a quote from a friend, 'why use one word when you can use twenty!'. I'm afraid that is rather me. I can go on and on about one particular subject and then change it without a moment of warning. My poor Momma is often the subject of my scattered thoughts.


I'm hoping to post pictures soon, but a little someone who shall remain nameless has dropped the camera once again... there is talk of said person buying a camera of their own so that they don't break any more cameras.  I'm thinking about getting a camera to use, but then I look at the prices and my bank account and they suffer large differences in the monetary factor.


A fun bit for you, I learned recently how to make hearts. On the computer for blogger!

here's how it works...
♥
& hearts ; remove the spaces and hit preview and your ♥ will appear. Now I want to learn how to make stars! lol!

and don't write Whala.... write Voila. It's French! ;)

Good night!

Lemonade Stand Award

 

Hannah over at Hannah's Hangout - The Writings of a Christian Girl very sweetly gave me the Lemonade Stand award! Thank you for thinking of me Hannah!

Here are the rules:

- Put the Lemonade logo on your blog or within your post.
- Nominate at least 10 blogs with great attitude or gratitude.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award

I've seen this award all over the blog-sphere, so I don't know if I'm awarding people who already have the award or not! But I would like to award:

♥ McKenzie @ Pecan Pastures

♥ My mom @ One Big Adventure

♥ Abigail @ Amazed by Grace

♥ Mia @ Aspiring Homemaker

♥ Mrs. Marcy @ Six Olive Plants

♥ Mrs. Patrice @ Williams Family Blog

♥ Mrs. Jamie @ M&M's from Mexico

♥ Southerngrits @ Girls Raised In The South 

♥ Lydia @ It's a Beautiful Life

♥ Jenna @ Feminine Farmgirl 

Thank you again Hannah for nominating me!

Computer Problems

Friday morning, the computer cord died. Since then, we haven't had access to the internet at home. I've rather enjoyed not having the computer, since it's allowing me to catch up on reading. I read 39 Steps by John Buchan. 39 Steps is also an Alfred Hitchcock movie, that I've also watched. I'm of the opinion that the book is better than the movie, but I think that watching the movie helped me understand the book better.
I'm also currently reading Ghost Wars by Steve Coll... It's a very interesting book and it's taking me much longer to read. I'm about half-way through it in two days. It's not about ghosts, but about the CIA, Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the various guerilla type leaders that the US supported with financial aid and arms. The book covers the time from 1979 to September 10th, 2001. Sometimes, I come across something I don't know about and wish I had the computer to look it up. But with not having the computer, we'll get to go to the library more often.

Today, Momma, J, and I are in Atlanta for several appointments for J. J also got his Beads of Courage today. He has four strands full of beads, telling his journey through leukemia and treatment. It's really impressive and I'm hoping to get pictures up soon. Currently, we are at the hospital library using the computers. J is wandering around in between watching Superman on the TV (naturally it's George Reeves.... since he's the best one :*))....

Since we haven't been on the computer, we've spent more time together and quoted movies scripts and other things we've seen.

C~ (reading from Genesis during devotions) 'and Sarah convinced' and had a baby. She did this twice in a row, saying 'convinced' instead of 'conceived'.

K and I were talking to Momma and Daddy in the kitchen and we were quoting from books, movies and coming up with our own things... when Momma said something about we were making a good case for getting rid of the TV as well. K said 'Spoiled Sport', just like Sylvester in Looney Tunes. It was the perfect imitation and since then, we've said 'spoiled sport' instead of 'party-pooper'.

B and C are enjoying all the new books from the library and B is starting to read books on her own inititive. She read 'Dolphin Adventure: a true story' in one morning and started '39 Steps' last night. C is often found curled up in a chair reading books and then she'll come to Momma, K or myself asking for a new book to read. What have you been reading this week?

Well, I'd better close for now... I have a few more things to check while we have access to the internet. Don't expect anything in the next week, since I'm not sure when we'll go to the library!

Busy, Busy, Busy and a giveaway, too!

 We've been busy here the last couple weeks. On the 10th, we had several families over for Epiphany and I don't have any pictures from that... sorry! McKenzie or Mr. Daniel - would you email some of the pictures to me, pleeeaaassseeee. On the 17th, we had our first overnight visitors since August of 2005! 'J' made a new friend and 'C' and 'B' loved playing baseball with Mr. Norm and Mrs. Sally! I think we might have talked their ears off :)...

I've also been working on another project. Last October, I was reading a food blog and noticed a link to a giveaway for baby shoes. I visited the site and entered several of the giveaways there. I actually won something, too. It was a cute, but extremely expensive baby blanket!!! I've been entering other giveaways since then and started another blog to blog about giveaways (and earn extra entries :*)). I really wanted to host giveaways myself. But after thinking about it for a long time, I decided that I wasn't going to try and get people to sponsor giveaways on my blog. A day or two later, I got an email from a company asking if I wanted to review their product and host a giveaway. So... tomorrow morning, I am posting my first giveaway. A natural shielding lotion and I am really impressed with it. I'd like to invite you to come and enter the giveaway too.

A week ago, 'J''s surgeon called Momma and told her we could start putting his ostomy output into in mucous fistula, which is the other end of his colon. I'm excited that we have made it this far and I'm not looking forward to doing this next phase. The surgeon told Momma to contact a nurse practitioner to see about supplies. Momma talked to Mrs. Brenda, the NP, this week and Mrs. Brenda told her that she can set us up with a special pump and catheter to run the output in overnight... This is going to be interesting! 'J' appears to be doing better with the saline and kefir flushes now and I'm glad for that. Flushing him can be a problem and it takes a long time. I'm always glad when he falls asleep during flushing, because that makes it go easier for both of us.

Momma asked me to take over dinner meals this week and I've been finding it easier to come up with meals that all of us can eat. If any of you have suggestions for meals, I'd love to hear them. Tonight we had Daddy's Egg Bake! I used mozzarella I made today and ricotta from the last batch of mozzarella I froze. It was pretty good, but needed something else to help the texture. I think the ricotta made it 'grainy'! I've got an idea for tomorrow's dinner, but need to finalize it :)...

Got a few things to check on and finish, so I'll say g'nite!

~Hannah

What is important?

It must be one of the 'I'm up late' moments. But I was thinking about what is important about going to bed early verses staying up late and, should I say, enjoying the peace and quiet.  I stay up way too late most nights and get up late in the morning.  I have all sorts of things I do when I stay up, entering giveaways, blogging on my family's site, working on HTML codes, emailing (not that I email a lot of people, it's just reading all the mail from email subscriptions.).
Which brings me to my question, what is important: going to bed early or staying up late and getting things you want done? That's something I haven't figured out yet. What about you?