Happy Halloween!

I got paid Friday and . . .

1. Paid off another small bill, woohoo.

2. Made the twit a sandwhich, she's leaving
town. It was the least I could do.

3. Stocked socks and beer. You can never have
enough of either.

4. Bought my younger daughter a long sleeve
shirt commemorating beating her school's arch
rival. Hehehehe.

5. On Saturday, I filled my gas tank on the way
home from work and made a special stop at Aldi's.
I'm trying to build up our food stores bit by bit.
I bought 2 cases of canned veggies, juice, pancake
mix and syrup.

Cheers,

~MH

My week so far . . .

The forum went to hell on Saturday, I was working
and then attended a band competition, and family
outting. I fell into bed exhausted at midnight,
and had no idea of what was traspiring.

I took my computer into work on Sunday, to try
and catch up on some emails and news on my break.
The forum was shut up, and I made some calls to
old and trusted friends to try and get to the
bottom of it.

I got home Sunday night and was hoping for some
quiet time, cuddles and a neck rub. Instead,
my beloved spouse had caught the Stomach Virus
From Hell. He proceeded to puke/barf/hurl as
soon as I got home. I finished dinner and tried
to visit with my daughter while juggling my new
sons (Mischief and Mayhem). I collapsed into bed
about 10:30, and tried to comfort my spouse
who shook and heaved all night.

We were woken up by my daughter at 5:55 on Monday
morning, tornado alarms were going off. My silly
man tied to go to work, "Go to bed, you'll just
give it to everyone else." I got the new sons off
to school, and then headed over for my very last
MRI. My stomach cramped as we were finishing up.

Uh~oh.

The rest of Monday was a blur. I threw up my toe
nails, ran a fever, and had body aches. On Tuesday,
I asked my husband, "Why don't we have any good
pain pills?" He found some old Tylenol #3 from
2008. Bless him, it felt so good to be pain free.
By Tuesday evening, I was trying to clean the house.
We ran errands that night, and checked out some
local real estate options. We ate dinner out and I
got a call from my (a little bit lonely) mom.
We got home just in time to skype with my home
sick older daughter.

On Wednesday, we took the kids to their new school
to introduce them to their new class mates, they
start next week. I finished cleaning the house
and cooked dinner, and I put us both back on
rhodiola rosea, an adaptogen. My younger daughter
came over and I fixed her dinner and hung out with
her until about 10:30pm.

Today I got up early to see her before school, and
I thought I'd get 30-60 minutes of me time. The rest
of my crew woke up at 7:05. Halloween is like crack
to a 4 year old, they can't get enough of it (and
we've had activites almost daily for a week).
We had a field trip to a pumpkin patch. The weather
was glorious. I asked husband to buy me a farm.
He said "settle down, Michelle." One twin was still
recovering from the Stomach Bug, and the other had
green sinus drainage and a cough.

When the field trip was over, we decided to keep on
tripping, and drove a few more exits up the road to
see a dairy processing facilty. Four ice cream cones,
and a call from a tennant later, we headed back to
town. We ran rental errands for a few hours, we got
home in time for me to change into work clothes.
Dinner was a happy meal, and I headed to work for
a few hours. "Michelle why are you here on an off day?"
"I have new bills, old bills and seven kids, I think."

At 11:15 pm, I plugged in husband's work phone and cuddled
and scratched him, while we talked about our rare
separate evening. He's such a nurturer, yay.

And now it's Friday, 00:12.

~M

A day in the life . . .

In the last 3 weeks we've scoured these hills and
valleys, crunched numbers, trolled the internet
and had a tarrot card reading in the hunt for our
new home. (Prayer too, yo.) I've had several doom
talks with husband, trying to emphasize the need
for close proximity to work/wood/land/water.

I've had my man in for a colonoscopy, a stress test
and a root canal in a week and a half. We're just
catching up on some deferred maintanance. We even
followed up with his doctor yesterday.

We have the kids all the time now, our transition
is nearly complete. (Read, I have a bottle of
champagne to pop when the twit is finished leaving
town.)

We had our 2 month anniversary today. I mentioned
it in passing while catching barf, wiping green
snot, and solving world peace. Life is very full,
and very busy. AND, I work.

~MH

House hunting continues . . .

"you have to put aside your emotions . . ."

A friend advised me of this recently while we
discussed my hunt for a new home. And I don't
really have the luxury of time to process all
that she told me.

So I called my realtor, again this morning.
Wish me luck.

~M

Is it the autumn of civilization?

I love this time of year. I adore my husband, all seven
of our children, the briskness in the air and the turning
of the leaves. It's the season for cool walks, high school
football games, candy corn, bonfires and amazing beer. In
short, I'm having too much fun. Being with someone
who understands me only adds to my delight. I keep pinching
myself, wondering when I'll wake up from the very best day
dream of my life.

Today I had a break from the twins. And without their voices
calling and demanding nearly constant attention, doom stopped
by for a visit. I read the news, it wasn't good. It's time to
prep (again) in earnest. The window of opportunity is closing.
We don't have much time left. Our military points to 2012, to
2015, as the start of difficult times. Our civilian government
has no plans at all, save the status quo and weird currency
games.

Today, my poor hubby came home from work, and I gave him the
"time is running out and I'm really worried" talk. He listened.
I talked about oil, food, electricity, the 1970's, the need
for chickens, a garden, a doomstead, and water. He took it all
in, and then said he had too much on his plate now to deal with.
I countered, that I needed to start buying extra food and he
woulnd't notice the difference in the budget. I also needed
him to know my heart and my concerns.

A few hours, 40 ice cream cone cupcakes, a little finger
desplintered, a bath and bed time for the little ones later,
I'm making plans.

~MH

Quackers!

I need to start dragging my camera
around wherever I go. I lost some
great shots in the last few days.

I have a to do list, that I'm
slowly chipping away at in my
non existant free time. Today
I woke at 4:30 in the morning,
tidied our apartment home, did
situps, showered and emailed
my Aussie~fied daughter.

I rolled into work and put in
a solid and pleasing 12 hours.
I stuck to my diet, ate fruit
and non processed foods. I
left work as the sun was setting
and drove to a casual movie set
to watch my oldest new son and
husband act in an independent
film.

I left early, met my younger
daughetr at the door and we shared
a veggie sub. We internet
chatted with my older daughter,
the poor baby needs a care package.

Time for bed.

~mh

Marry me and get a camera shoved up your butt! (and a root canal)!

And I was true to my word. The day
after our honeymoon, I became his
dependent, and my husband became mine.
We are among the lucky few with not
one, but two insurances. And in the
weird insurance world, our insurances
like each other and are willing to
work with each other in regard to
co-pays and such. This is the same
for our dental insurances as well.

My beloved spouse has a long family
history of colon cancer. He was two
years overdue for another screening.
It's human nature to put things off,
especially when divorce leaves you
with mountains of debt, and the
thought of huge medical bills only
adds to the conundrum.

So after the honeyoon, I made some
phone calls and started setting up
appointments for both of us. I think
I impressed him with my initiative.

He found the colon prep easy. First
some pills, then miralax mixed with
gatorade. This was much tastier than
the last time. We confirmed his test
a few days in advance, and showed
up with time to spare yesterday
morning.

We were in and out in record time,
everyone was lovely and took great
care of us. (No one seemed to mind
my holding his hand, or pda's.)
The lady doctor was excellent, and
one small, half hearted polyp was
sent off for analysis. My spouse
cracked jokes the whole time, and
then treated us to a big country
breakfast.

We'd do it again!

~mh

(next week, the root canal)