Say goodnight

Again with the lyrics... but JoBros said it man - Hold on tight, It's a roller coaster ride we're on, So say goodbye 'cause I won't be back again, Up and down, You're all around, Say goodnight and goodbye.

There has been so much going on and I have wanted to post for a couple weeks. When I try to put it all together all I can think is to randomly list what I can of it all...

Remy has been having high blood sugars. I am not overly concerned. I assume she is growing.
Mark has been having low blood sugars. Ugh, I hate this. It reminds me of the days when we were dating and he would get low. It scares me. His transplant just can't go bad. It can't.

Mark recently had his A1c done, and it was high - 8.9
Remy's last A1c came down since her last one, 8.4 from 8.9
I am worried that Remy's is still going to be high when we go in this week to see the endocrinologist.
I worry about Mark, that with his blood sugars going so high and so low, he's going to end up back on a pump.

My folks came out to visit us a week or so ago. They went and looked at some houses while they were here.
None of them were in the exact town that we live in. There are some great houses that would be perfect for them!

The house in Illinois. I don't know if I even want to talk about it. But you wouldn't even believe some of the things that have been going on. The play area in the basement has a shelf with a rod attached to it for the dress up clothes. My folks found it on the floor of the playroom, completely ripped out of the wall. All the things that were on it were strewn all over the room. There was a toilet completely, how shall I say... "full" and clogged. The whole house smelled of it, I guess. One of the blue stone stepping stones from the back yard was stolen. Someone keeps smoking on the back deck. There were muddy footprints on the pool cover. One time when my folks stopped at the house to check on things, the neighbor took the liberty to let his party guests' children use our swing set. The kicker was this last week though. My mom went back to the house to take care of the toilets. They get so gross just sitting there. Molding. The first toilet she went to was in the Master Bath Room on the first floor. Inside the toilet was a squirrel. Yeah, dead. I'll let you take that in for a minute. How does that even happen? Someone had to put it there. Seriously.

This past weekend was a nightmare with an Open House at the IL house. I won't get into it in detail. I'll just say there is some kind of egotistical battle between our realtor, her husband and my parents. Ugh. Enough already!

It just goes to show me that I come from a long line of crazy people. (It makes me fear for my kids. What have I done passing down my DNA to them?) I can't understand these situations that God keeps presenting me with. After this weekend, I honestly didn't know what to do. I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position and remain there for a good long while.

The hardest part of the whole event was the fact that Mark got this voicemail from our realtor after we had this great morning. Mark and Remy went to the lab, first thing in the morning and Remy did great getting her blood drawn. She said it really didn't hurt. Then both kids went right in to Children on the Move at church - gladly! The sermon series has been about parenting and very timely. After church they had an info session on a Dave Ramsey series that the church is doing for thirteen weeks. Also, there was a new friend of mine there, that I know from the neighborhood and her daughter and Remy are in the same class this coming year and they also have a son the same age as Dax... long story short, she and Mark graduated high school together! We were meant to be here!

So when all this happened after a great morning... I crashed. Surprisingly, I didn't cry. I felt stronger than that. But, I felt like I just don't know what to do anymore. It's an awful feeling.

Regarding the house. The house has been on the market since the end of March. Early April? We started out listed at 648,000. It is now listed at 599,000. We owe that much in mortgages. That leaves nothing for the realtor, taxes, lawyers, stamps, yada yada yada. We are doing a short sale. Which means any offer that is made goes to the mortgage company to approve. We have nothing to do with it. The offers we have received are 425,000 and the latest is 465,000. But we hear nothing from the bank. There is no follow through, follow up, or communication. An appraiser from the bank was supposedly out at the house. There is no record of it, no one knows anything. Anything we fax (with confirmation of it going through) they say they have never received. Mark spends his days and nights on hold with Chase for either our first, or our second, or the realtor, or the attorney, or the attorney for Chase. (He now calls daily, seriously) No one knows anything. No one has anything. Mark was on hold again tonight and after getting transferred for the umpteenth time, he gets to the person’s voice-mail box, it says, "There is not enough memory for this mailbox. Good bye." Mark says, "You got that right!"

Oh, and the date has been moved up for the auction on the house if it doesn't sell. It was originally going to be auctioned in February. Now it is December 20-something. Merry Christmas! Someone can get a great deal on a house from the bank for Christmas!

We are getting every last thing out of the house this weekend when we are in town. We didn't plan on this. We are getting a storage in IL. I would have rather brought everything up here, so I felt like I actually "had" it. We have no money to rent a trailer. We have no money to rent the storage. We have no money. Period.

Thank the Lord for Mark's office manager at work. She understands our situation, and gives Mark an advance on his paycheck. It doesn't last long, as we buy groceries and meds with it. Or gas for our cars. It makes no sense how fast it's gone. When do those financial classes at church start? Not soon enough!

Kids are still home this week. School starts after the holiday. They are excited to go back to IL for the weekend.
Before we leave, the kids have "Sneak Peek" at school. They drop off supplies and meet their teachers.
I have a feeling this year is going to be a good one. Well, as far as school goes!

So, I had this group interview, for a retail job. I filled out all the paperwork after the interview to get hired. I know they called one of my references. But I have not heard anything else. I was hoping it would all be moving right along... they do orientation that takes a few nights to complete. They also require drug testing before hire. Maybe nothing will happen until after the holiday. I am excited to get out and work and have money to contribute to things we need, like food. medicine. heat. I don't look forward to retail, drama, and hawking the store credit card. But the store discount is sweet.

Work is good for Mark. Thank God for that. Humbly, I really, really thank God for that. It is going well, he seems to like it there and I am thankful it brought us here.

My life couldn't be stranger... even if it were fiction.

Now go watch some Ace of Cakes. Duff can make anything awesome. Out of Cake. Yummmmmm.

That's Incredible!

Anyone remember that show? You know, I think I am thinking of That’s Incredible, but I believe it was Real People with Sarah Purcell. Do you remember that show? It’s what That’s Incredible is the spin-off of. Anyway, the only Incredible we worry about in this house these days is Mr. and Elastigirl. The kids love the movie The Incredibles. Frankly, so do I. Even before the kids had seen the movie and got on the superhero craze, I snapped a picture of my two adorable children in the dress up outfits of Batman and Superman, well, Supergirl in this case. With April coming to a close, I have only hours left of National Donate Life Month. I had planned on sending an email blast to tell everyone to be a Superhero and sign a donor card. But when we moved back in the house after getting the hardwood floors done, the month was half over. It still feels as though it should be April 15th or something. I didn’t do a lot of things I wanted to this month. So, I’m just going to post the picture and information here, now. Be an organ and tissue donor and don't forget to tell all your friends and family to be a superhero, too! Just tell them:

Want to be a Superhero? It's easy!
All you have to do is print this card ,
fill it out and carry it with you.
Just be sure to inform your family of your wishes.

Outfit changes in phone booth optional.

Fehget about TV turnoff week

That’s how Remy says forget, try it - “Feh-get”. A bit Sopranos accent, maybe some Philly, totally cute. I find myself saying it now. Said it just today to the neighbor. Our next-door neighbor does woodworking, so he came and finished the crown molding in our bedroom. It’s beautiful. I was beginning to feel bad having the kids watching their shows this morning while we got our day rolling. The kids watch a bit of TV in the morning, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays when Remy doesn’t have school. I am not a morning person, and it takes me a bit to get going. So as I sip coffee, they get a dose of Dora. Remy even says that with a wonderful rolling “R”. Dax is just like me, a total Tv-holic. He doesn’t understand Tivo yet, either. If I turn off the end of a show, he’s all, “But Backyawdigans is coming up next!” Nope, it’s not buddy, it’s Tivo. What did our parents ever do with us without Tivo? So, anyway, just about when I was feeling bad about the kids and the TV with the neighbor here today… Joe and Blue taught Remy how to tie a shoelace! And, because of Tivo, I could rewind “Shoehorn”, a.k.a. Randy Travis, telling her how to tie the laces! Remy was excited and so was I. It just came to her all of a sudden! We’ve tried it in the past, but it wasn’t working. So thank you Joe and Blue! Now Remy is all about getting shoes that actually have laces! All hers have Velcro or buckles. She is getting to be such a big girl. She said something today that was so funny and wise coming from her. I can’ think of it now, maybe because of the loud snoring coming from the bedroom downstairs. My word, Mark snores so annoyingly loud. It’s loud and I annoy easily this week. It seems to be the general consensus. I talked with my mom, sister and girlfriend whom all seem to be feeling the effects of the full moon, like me. My mom literally said to me today,” How long is this full moon going to last?” Weird, just weird. But everyone’s kids are acting up and we’re all on edge. Well, I am on edge. Everybody else is on their own. Edge or not. Anyway, I hope that after Mark’s surgery next week he stops snoring. I know that it sounds weird, but after his transplant, he lost a bit of weight, and his snoring stopped! Or maybe I was just so dog tired that by the time I finished nursing Dax for the millionth time, or driving home from the hospital with him screaming for an hour, or cleaning up after the sick dog after driving home from the hospital for an hour with Dax screaming, that I just didn’t hear him snore. Ugh, so many of the memories come back now and again. It was awful. I am so glad the kids are the ages they are now. Dax especially. He is just a sweet boy. He compliments all the time. He says to Remy what a pretty dress she has on. He tells me that he likes my earrings. Out of the blue, he’ll say, “Dad, I love you” or to whomever he’s saying it. He has a face that everyone says you just can’t say no to. Well, we do, and a lot. He has been getting in a bit of trouble lately. He is just breaking everything. He gets his hands on something and he has to mess with it til it either disintegrates or sister is crying about it. It was hilarious though today, he had on his Superman dress up outfit, with cape. He then came running to me with these turquoise high heels on. The poor boy has so many pictures of him in sister’s dress up things. But he’ll come to me with one of my purses from the closet and say, ”Mom, I have something special in here for you.” And give me something, a Polly Pockets or matchbox or something. Again, too sweet. I get so sad about Remy starting Kindergarten next year. What will Dax and I do without her around? I can’t help but feel that I’m going to literally miss having her here to play and stuff. Plus, I am getting verklempt about whether or not she should be going to the public school. Sometimes I think she really should go to a Lutheran school. I can save that for another blog. But, she is pretty excited about starting school in the fall. Mark and I have her orientation next week; hope he can wobble over there with me post-op. I worry about her being so young when she goes off in the fall. Will the other kids be more mature or mean? This is so hard, all the stuff you go through with the first child. I didn’t cry when she went off to preschool. The scrapbook maven that I am didn’t even take pictures that first day! But, the first day of Kindergarten, I’m gonna seriously lose it. I know I shouldn’t worry though. Remy is like 4 going on 15. Little Miss Independent. The other day she was doing the laundry. I didn’t ask her to help, she just did it. Emptied the dryer into a basket and put all the wash into the dryer. She EVEN cleaned off the lint trap! It was amazing. And now today, she’s tying shoes. I love life just the way it is, TV or not! But of course, Dax and I prefer it with TV.

And danced by the light of the moon

Do you remember the TV show ThirtySomething? I was like in middle school and I barely remember it, I think my sister watched it. At the end of the credits a couple sang “And danced by the light of the moon.” Well let me tell ya, the full moon must not yet be waning. Or is that waxing. Whatever the moon does after being full. I am still feeling the effects of it. I can’t stop laughing at myself about what happened to me, I’m such a dork. I worry about everything so much that I never take the time to laugh at myself. But yesterday was downright hilarious. As I was walking from the kitchen to the bedroom I had an itch on my left ankle, so, I rubbed the left foot with my right. This is when it happened - my right foot got caught on my left pant leg. I seriously went sailing – arms flailing out at my sides like a kid pretending to be an airplane. Though I was more like a helicopter with a broken propeller that was going down. I slammed my foot down on the hardwood floor so hard I thought I broke it. I had to run to get myself upright again because my nose was about to touch the floor when my foot did. My gawd it was so hilarious. I still can’t stop laughing about it. The kids couldn’t make sense of what had happened. They just kept eating their cereal at the kitchen table. Remy says to me, “Did a bug on the floor, like, trip you or something Mom?” Yeah, that was it.

Mr. Mayor and the moon

Yup, those are my kids with the Mayor of Joe-ville. Mr. Mayor came out to the 15th annual tree planting and organ donor dedication, as did Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White. Quite a day! It started out questionable (more like downhill). The kids were ornery by breakfast, which looking back at now I can’t even remember what the deal was. I think it was something about where we were all to sit at the table. This is a big deal to the almost three and five year-old in the house. I was not in the mood. It progressed from the children to my husband. They all managed to bug me to the point I stated, “It must be Mother’s Day. Is that today? The way everyone is acting, it really must be my day!” I get pretty uptight about the way “Mom” gets treated. So, it was one of those days “Mom” was feeling no R-E-S-P-E-C-T. The clock was ticking closer to the tree planting and I still hadn’t showered nor had the kids eaten lunch. We ended up making it to the ceremony, late as usual. I am late for everything in case you did not already know this. I assume I can get anywhere I need to be in 15 minutes. Even if I need to be to the Indiana border, 15 minutes is all I need to make that hour trip. As soon as we walked in the door I could see my folks and Dax’s godmother and her kids. The fact that they were there meant so much! But then I felt so bad that we were late. But, neither of them probably thought anything of it, as they know me better than anyone. The ceremony was lovely and it was just really cool (for lack of a better word) that Jesse White was there. His support of organ and tissue donation and awareness in Illinois is just awesome. The whole ceremony just took on a different kind of feel from the mayor to the color guard to every person that spoke. Though, I couldn’t help but think of what an episode of American Idol must be like as the one girl kind of crackled her high note as she sang the last song of the ceremony. I began to feel like Simon or Paula, this coming from someone who has never even watched a single episode. I don’t even watch Survivor. The Bachelor is the only reality TV I watch, I admit it. Every season I swear I am not watching it ever! again! and I still get hooked. It’s one part of how I started an interest in this blog thing. I read a recap of The Bachelor from RealitySteve.com and it was hilarious. I could read that and not even have to watch the show. But what fun would that be. Bless this guy’s heart, he watches all this reality “stuff” and then writes a column about it all. Down to his own commercial recaps. Good stuff. I started watching SuperNanny and can’t even bear that most times. Though it affirms that I do know what I am doing as a parent, as we already do most of what she is teaching the parents to do on the show, anyhow. It also makes my kids little angels in comparison to some of what JoJo has to deal with. My two are just sweet kids, really. Mark really wanted Remy to say “Hi” to the Mayor to see if he remembered her. She was included in his speech at the tree planting last year. When the Mayor came around by the kids his face lit up and he acted like he actually remembered her. Not by name of course, but just like he knew her. But he was once known as officer friendly before he became Mayor and was even voted the "hottest" mayor in a radio station contest last year. He won that title because of days like today. He makes everyone feel good and listens and participates in his community. I love this town! Okay, so where was I? We shoveled some dirt on the tree and the kids played hide-and-seek in the grove of trees from previous years’ planting ceremonies. It was cold and windy but the sun was shining. At least it wasn’t snowing. We had a few flurries in these parts a few days ago. Someone was really looking out for us all. I have to keep things like that in perspective. It ended up being a pretty nice day. Then there was shopping at the grocery store after dinner (and I hate going without a list). Remy wanted to sit in the cart which she is much too big for so she’s pitching a fit and then the kid at the register is like “credit or debit” and I am oblivious to the whole thing as Dax nearly launches himself out of the cart head first to the floor I look at Mark and he’s all “You can pay it.” Thanks for that. And, I forgot to use my $5 off coupon! I do prefer to shop alone and have some clue as to what I am doing. But I will blame everything on the full moon. That, or the black cat that crossed the road right in front of me as I was heading home the other day. I did retrace my route later that day, as I had to pick up Remy from school. Does that negate the bad luck? Not only am I notoriously late, I am really superstitious. You should see me when my kids get around ladders or use their umbrellas.