A new haircut

So, today I got my hair cut into many layers, yet still long. I will go on Friday to get high lights in my hair. I have never in 34 years ever put a color of any kind on my hair. Nervous isn't a good explanation as to how I feel about this. It should be interesting. Here is a picture of the haircut. I will post another picture on Friday evening with the high lights added.

I haven't had "bangs" cut in my hair in years, so that was a little unnerving when she began to clip away at them today. Not sure why I put this much thought into my hair and have so many worries about my hair. I don't think this concern is very evident in my day to day hair...

Let's see what else is going on with the Wilson's? Mark is traveling today and tomorrow. Our neighborhood is having a meeting tomorrow night about the proposed apartment complex that has plans to move into the end of our street. That will be fun to go to - ha ha. After tomorrow's meeting and once it passes through the planning commission (I think) it will go to the commission and if approved then, they will begin cutting down trees. I hope this doesn't happen, really I don't.

Not much to tell of. Several things on my mind, just haven't wrangled all of my thoughts to write a blog entry about them.

2:39 am

And I am awake....

After two cups of regular coffee, I am not asleep yet. I needed a nap on Saturday afternoon and here I sit, awake. I will definitely need a nap today after church, if I go to church. One of us will stay at home with E. She is running a fever, cranky, beginning a cough. I don't think it is the flu though. I think a cold virus of some kind. Will I miss more work in the coming week? It all depends on her wellness, and for her sake, I pray she is well.

The coffee mentioned above took me back to Marion, AL this evening while I drank it. I shared many a cup of this brand of coffee (which slips my mind at this early hour) with Mrs. B while we lived there. Good times sitting in the Manse with her drinking, not sipping, this good coffee. I have not mastered coffee as she has. Mark made the pot we had tonight and I told him it reminded me of how Mrs. B made this coffee. She and her family have been a part of my thoughts a lot the last two days. I do miss them. I am trying to figure out how to get from here to Maryland to visit them.

OK, this is a rambling post for sure as my thoughts will not slow down as the caffeine forces them to continue the marathon they are persuing right now. I may be back to write more later or earlier, which is it at this time of the day? Will I see the sun rise? Surely not, please let sleep fall on my eyes between now and 6:00 am!

Tomato Basil Soup

This is the BEST soup ever, in my opinion of course. Mark first prepared this in celebration of my birthday in October of last year ~ along with eggplant parmesan, salad, and bread from Panera ~ I digress from the soup. Anyway, it has become a favorite of ours and we have had it several times since October. It is on my mind because we enjoyed it again tonight, and I thought I would share it here. If you make it and you do not like it, I will be sad, very sad.... So, please ENJOY! This is taken from Stop and Smell the Rosemary - A cookbook by The Junior League of Houston, Inc.

10 to 12 Roma tomatoes, peeled, or 1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes, drained
3 cups tomato juice
2 cups chicken stock
15 or more fresh basil leaves
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Combine tomatoes, tomato juice and chicken stock in a large saucepan. Simmer 30 minutes. Add basil. Transfer soup in batches to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Return to saucepan over low heat. Whisk in cream, butter, salt, and pepper. Whisk until butter is melted and soup is thoroghly heated. Garnish with Parmesan. Mmmmm......

This is great with the bread from Panera (or any good bread) and salad. Yummy!!!

Old Self?

While driving B and E to school this morning he said "Mom, you are back to your old self! Yesterday and the other days you were just nanananana (strange noise made by him)" So, I think I am getting back to my old self, at least according to a 5 year old going on 30.

I attempted work for about an hour and a half this morning. Let's just say the flu bug is trying to find its way out of my system. That is the only way I can describe it. I think after today, resting and trying to eat something that sounds good, will help me get back to myself.

I would take another c-section recovery over the flu any day! ha This really has been the worst thing ever! I hope any and all of you reading my blog will not be found by this virus and that you and yours stay flu free!!!!

I attempted our tax return today only to realize I can't find the closing document where we sold our house in Marion last summer. Once I put my hands on that, I will be done and will just wait for next year. This is not one of my favorite tasks as an adult (or as an accountant) but am happy when it is done and over with!!!

I am finding that I have a little more energy I may be able to clean out a closet!! I am insane!!

Working out of my cocoon

I am working my way out of this cocoon I have been in for 4 .5 days now. Wow. This flu bug is awful. I have made my way to the couch today. I felt better yesterday afternoon. A friend, Ruth, brought us some wonderful soup for dinner. I decided I felt well enough to sit at the table and eat with Mark and the kids. Once I had eaten, my shoulders were shaking and I had no energy left. Back to bed I went. I woke up this morning feeling SO much better. Mark had to go out of town again today, so I decided I would take E to school. The longer I was up, I felt that I could go to work for a few hours. After finally having E and myslef dressed, we head out the door. I make it through dropping her off and as I walk out, the sweat appears on my brow. I begin to feel weak, but head to the office anyway. I am driving around in the rain, no parking close. At this point, I am shaking and sweating. So, I called in and told Liz that I was headed back home. So, now I am back on the couch. However, I am no longer under the weight of 2 quilts in addition to the sheets and spread of our bed. I don't have the chills like earlier this week; my cough is much better; more energy. I think I am on my way to coming out of this darkness called the flu.

THANK YOU!!! To those who have helped with the kids, brought over dinner and called to check on me!

No more doubting

I was waiting on the urgent care office to open this morning prior to 7 am. I was the first on the list, WOO HOO! Completed my paperwork only to have them call me and the others to the front desk to let us know the computers were down - we all needed to go to the other facility across town. I came back home and got in the bed. It had taken all of the energy that I could muster up to go there in the first place. I called my dr. at 8 am and they were able to see me at 9:15. A nose swab test later, it was confirmed that yes I do have the blooming flu!!! I feel a little better after 4 more hours of sleep combined with the tamiflu and cough syrup. He said that I should feel better by Wednesday. WEDNESDAY??!!!??!! Those of you who know me, will understand my worry and frustration about two more days of being down. Nothing I can do though, but rest, drink fluids and feel better.

Flu???

I am sitting here on the couch now that the family has left for church. I was fine until late last night. When BAM!!, I began to feel a cough coming on. Out of nowhere! It is only worse this morning and I feel as though there are knives in my lungs when I cough. A couple of people at work have the full blown influenza virus. I didn't get a flu vaccine this year, first time in about 10 years that I haven't gotten one. So with the very quick onset of this, I am worried it is the flu. I feel like sleep is calling my name.....zzzzzzzzzzzz

One last celebration for E

This really has been the month-long birthday celebration for E's 3rd birthday. We had a few friends join us at Chick fil A, with an indoor play area, to celebrate again today. Since we have a family gathering down south, we have a friend gathering here at home. It seems to work better this way. She was very excited to play with her friends and I think she realized they were there to actually play with her and celebrate with her. We had a great time. It was a low-key and stress free party, which for me, is rare. Party and no-stress for me do not ususally go together. I love a party, any kind of party or gathering, yet I stress over things that should probably not matter.

The weather was quite warm here today. It would have even been nice to celebrate at a park. Before the party we took B, E, & friend A to a park to play and have a picnic lunch there. I am ready for spring and summer!! Well, maybe just spring.

It will be time to celebrate's B's birthday in 7 or 8 short weeks. I can't believe he will be 6.

Rejection?

You know how it feels when 'everyone' has been invited to a birthday party, you feel you should have been, but reality is, you weren't invited? I sort of feel that way about a situation. It is really dumb and I shouldn't really care at all. This is the kind of thing in life I can't shake. Is it being left out, or is it feeling that I have done something wrong to create the wall? Anyway, just kind of an ache in my gut wondering if I have done something wrong. At the same time, I am an adult with adult things to focus my worries and attention on. I need to move on and let this go. I will, just not yet...

Family Vacation 2008

Day 1, Friday evening:
We decided to leave Friday evening to get a start on our travels south. We loaded the car and left home around 6 pm. After driving from store to store looking for a splitter for the car "plug", we finally found one at Radio Shack. An hour later at 7:10 we are on I-85 headed to exit 62 for Columbus, GA. The kids had a movie on (thanks to the P's loaning us their video player), bathroom break done, we were on our way. We made it through Tifton, GA just fine. This is where the roads get tricky between Auburn and Orlando. So, once through there we were on the straight path south. The more we drove, the more we leaned to going straight through on Friday evening. We had originally planned to drive until we could go no further and needed sleep. We called Pop Century to see if they had any rooms available for Friday evening and they did. So, we drove on. We arrived at Pop Century Resort at 2 am CST. Of course, the kids were asleep but woke up once they realized we were there. An hour after arriving, we were all in bed asleep. So, 3 am we went to sleep.

Day 2, Saturday:
7:00 AM!!! The kids are awake! Since they had enjoyed their sleep on the way down there, they were ready to go bright and early Saturday morning. We took our time getting dressed to scope out our home for the next 3 days. The swimming pool had a magnetic pull on B, especially. We got the kids in their swim suits and enjoyed the sun for an hour or so. After convincing them that there were other things to do in Orlando, we got them out of the pool.

Downtown Disney was our next stop. Just walking around. The kids enjoyed the LegoLand store which is really why we went there at all. Mark and I were ready to crash due to our lack of sleep. We headed back to the hotel after a couple of hours. We convinced B & E to watch a movie while we took a nap. They did great, no one got hurt or escaped the room. We got our much needed rest and we were ready for more fun. Where did the kids want to go?? The POOL!! So, off we went to let them swim more. We knew this would be the only day they would get to swim the most, so why not? After once again convincing them to get out of the pool, we set off to find dinner somewhere. Guess what we found?! A panera bread!!! My favorite place by far. The traffic was unreal, it looked like summer in Orlando. Very few people were trading at Panera, so it as a nice quiet (if that is possible with a 5 & 3 year old) dinner. Mmmmmm.....
After dinner, we returned to the hotel to turn in for the night. We all knew there was a big exciting day ahead of us!

Day 3, Sunday (E's birthday):
7:30 AM - rise and shine!! Happy Birthday!!!!
After breakfast, we were all ready to head to Magic Kingdom!!! Off to work....will finish later...

I am back...so we get to MK and it is COLD! We hop on the monorail and are so excited to see Cinderella's castle, space mountain, etc. B could hardly contain himself. Pictures made in front of the gate and we are on our way. First ride, Buzz Lightyear! No waiting, right in. Next Astro Orbiter and E rode it too and she loved it. Next B and Mark road Space Mountain. B said it was fun, but he had to keep his eyes closed the entire time and he didn't want to ride it a second time. Mark and B went to the Stitch show which B said was scary and that he never wanted to go to again. Let's see from there we moved to the Mad Hatters Tea Party. E had asked about this from the time we left Auburn, so needless to say, she was thrilled to ride this one. After this we headed to the Winnie the Pooh ride which had a very long line. Other rides of the day were, Dumbo, the carousel, Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Carribean, Swiss Robinson Tree House (not really a ride), Buzz again, Astro Orbiter again....We also watched the 3 pm parade where the kids got a lot of kisses blown at them and a high 5 from Tigger.

As darkness fell, we found a place in the middle of madness around the castle to watcht the spectromagic light parade. The kids were on our shoulders so that they could see, but Mark and I only saw other peoples backs. An hour after this, we watched Tinkerbell make her way from the castle and the fireworks began. I thought it was a fun way to end a birthday! Since Sunday was Extra Magic hours, we could have stayed at the park until 2 am, but we only made it to 12:30. E was freezing and asleep. As we approached our van in the parking lot, it was the only vehicle in the Pluto parking area. We definitely got our time in at Magic Kingdom.

When we arrived back at room 1204, E had a birthday card signed by Donald with balloons attached. Even with this added excitement, it didn't take long for all of us to fall asleep!

Day 4, Monday:

EPCOT

I had no idea that a family could spend 5 or 6 hours in the front part of EPCOT. The big ball was closed for refurbishment. However, the Test Track was open. B wanted to go there first, so Mark rode with him then I went with him on a parent swap pass. Next was the EPCOT Character Spot. Here we saw Mickey, Pluto, Minnie, Chip & Dale, and Goofy. That was a lot of fun! From here we heard the Nemo and Friends ride calling our names, so we headed there next and followed that with Turtle Talk with Crush. Let's see....from there, we made our way to lunch in "The Land". Disney has great lunches for kids by the way. And they are 4.98 each, not much different from a McDonald's happy meal. I digress....once our tummies were full we rode the Living Seas boat ride which we all really enjoyed, even B & E. Once we left the boat, we decided on a 3D movie of Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Neither B nor E enjoyed this at all! We went back to The Land so that B and I could ride Soarin'. Then Mark rode it with him, a great ride by the way.

There were several fun and learning activities in Innoventions so we hung out there for some time. Mark and B tried the Mission to Mars ride, but that didn't work out again. B decided it wasn't for him. Finally we make our way over to the World Showcase. After the Viking Ride and dinner in Mexico Mark and the kids found a perfect spot to watch the fireworks show at EPCOT. E was not happy to see/hear fireworks again! She cried most of the time and fell asleep on the way to the car.

Day 5, Tuesday:

Time to go home. Mark took the kids swimming so that I could gather the last of our belongings and get the van loaded. Once that was done and dry clothes were on, we were on our way out of Orlando. First stop, Panera for breakfast. The initial leg of the journey home was somewhat stressful with the kids awake. That being said, we only stopped once for gas and bathroom breaks and made it home safe and sound at 5 pm. By 6:00 two loads of laundry were done, suitcases packed away, and any evidence of Disney was ony in our minds.

Returning home

We returned home late this afternoon from our visit to Orlando. Whew! A fun time was had by all of us, most of the time...if we were all getting our way that is. More to post later and pictures will come too! I must go check weather.com!! It is monsooning outside right now and I had no idea this was to happen!!!! Back later with a recap of our trip and a link to pictures.

Eighty-Eight

Today my grandfather, Paw Paw, would have been eighty-eight. What an amazing man! I have thought about my grandmother, Memaw, all day long. Wondering how she is doing today. This is his second birthday since his death in July 2006. They were married for over 60 years.

I can still see him throwing out birdseed with Benjamin's help, I can smell the fish on his large caloused hands, I can see his very large feet walking to get a little debbie cookie snack. So many memories of this wonderful man that I still miss terribly.

Pet Peeves....

I think is how you spell that. I know that I have issues and need to get over things such as this. But, I can not stand to use a paper clip that isn't "smooth" on the ends. Once you clip your paper with it, it tears the paper when you remove it. Another thing that really bothers me is a cheese wrapper. This has bothered me all of my life. I remember an English paper in 10th grade where I mentioned this. I was so excited as an adult to find that I could purchase "Deli" sliced cheese without the clear plastic wrappers. Anyway, these are my random thoughts that have taken me away from my work this morning. Back to work and to hopefully find some "smooth" paper clips.

Night Interrupted...

Well, at 12:30 I hear E crying upstairs. I run to check on her to find that she is throwing up in her bed. YUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, I had not gone to bed yet b/c of the political entertainment for the night/early morning hours. By 2:30 am she and I were both asleep - finally. We are supposed to leave for Disney World Friday night or early Saturday morning. If we are all going to get this, I really hope we get it now and get it over with so we can still make our Disney trip!!!

Oh, and she is much better this morning. She is at home with Mark and B. B is at home waiting out the storms that are passing through here. Once they are gone, he will go to school.

Exciting Night of Politics

I don't think I have ever followed a campaign as closely as I have this year. I am very excited about the results so far. I am proud that Obama has won Alabama on the democratic ticket. I have had a glass of tea and 3 cups of coffee, so I anticipate staying up late to see more of the results. Should be an interesting night....

I am sure I won't get up to go to the gym in the morning....I will make sure I go after work tomorrow. This is too exciting to go to sleep on.