New car...

For the last couple of months, Chris and I have been humming and hawing over whether or not we should go trade in our van for another vehicle that is a bit larger and still meets our needs. The fact that it'd be less and about the same loan term would lower the payments as well...which is a plus! Well, we looked online, and drove around and just kinda/sorta looked at dealerships, and today, Chris calls me from one dealership that we'd been scopin' out online and says, "they just got done detailing that red suburban we were looking at, want to come test drive it?" So I said 'why not' and loaded up the kids and drove in. I really liked it and it was within our price range, so we set to work filling out paperwork, well, we hit a couple of bumps in the road, but finally got it to work out. It's a shorter loan term, thus the payments are about the same as we're paying now, and the trade-in value of our van is less than what we owe on it, so they wouldn't do that. BUT, they said they'd refer a couple of people that were looking for a van that had come in to look at one, PLUS we're going to place it up for sale in the paper and online. They said (and we've seen in our research online) that vans are the hot-topic out here right now and our's has a clean bill of health (so says the mechanics and the dealership). We have a plan "B" if it doesn't sell right away, not something we really want to do, but are willing to do if we need to. But, YAYAYAYAYAY!!!! I HAVE A NEW TOY! I'll post pics later...it's after midnight right now and I need some sleep!

LOVE THIS!!!

I only WISH I could be this musically talented! (you'll need to pause my music down below to hear this and get the full effect!! you'll love it as much as I do, I'm sure!)

Celebrity Look-alikes...

Being Self-pay...

I wouldn't wish it on anyone! We keep smiling and telling everyone that we're doing ok with it and we're saving money by not having it, but the truth is...we're NOT ok with it! Having to wait until you have money just to take your kids to the doctor is not exactly ideal! Sure, we're saving money, but at what expense? I don't think I've ever admitted this publicly out loud how much I hate this, but today, I think, was my breaking point.

We had planned to just take Tyler in to the dr to have him checked out and then when we got billed for the cultures done, we'd have the money to pay it by that time (takes a few weeks out here). The whole POINT of them doing the culture was to make sure it was something that could be treated with this particular medicine (this medicine effects the liver...VERY hard! could cause jaundice, etc). So, it shocked me when he said that we should probably start the meds ASAP since this has been going on for a couple weeks already. He printed off the prescription and handed it to me, telling me that if I needed to take a couple of days to fill it due to price checking and matching, that was fine, but he wanted it started soon. I thought, fine, and loaded Tyler up and went on my way. I had to stop at Walmart to grab something we forgot while grocery shopping (this was something I had spare change for....we'd used up what was left in our account to pay for the office visit...I had all of $2 sitting in my account). So, I decided that I would stop by the pharmacy and see how much it cost and then I'd go home and call around and see if I could get it cheaper and then I'd have King Soopers price match it for me. Pretty easy, right? *SIGH* Not really. My heart fell when the pharmacist told me how much the prescription really was. The cost was over $100, plus tax. Ya know, I could have, and WOULD have, put off paying one of the smaller bills that is fairly insignificant, but there was NO way I could come up with that until next Friday, and even then, we'd be going without something that check.

I came home and Celeste was crying...she's been doing this non-stop since Friday of last week. Gotta love teething and shots. So I picked her up, and gave Chris a break from that, since I know how frustrating it is to listen to that for longer than a few minutes without reprieve. I finally got her to calm down and put her in bed and called my mom, just expecting to vent. Well, I got some not-so-great news on Grams, but she is still expected to make a full recovery, it'll just take longer than they first thought. I'll give updates as I get them. After hearing that, I just broke down and cried. When it rains it pours, but, I WOULD like to have a break in the storm to come up for air once in a while! I told her about that prescription and my concerns. Can it wait until next Friday, since it's gone this long without spreading or getting worse? Or, if we wait, will he be bald and have scabby, zombie-like skin later on? Mom decided that we needed to start the meds soon, so she had my sister send out a money-gram to pay for it...and then I started crying when I discovered that my sister slipped in a few extra (more than a few) dollars to help out with anything else that might come up between now and next payday! I just have to say...

...I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!!!

Medical Updates

As I posted before, there were some health issues going on. I haven't received permission to include names, so I'm going to keep things as anonymous as possible.

Chris's sister is recovering well after having brain surgery. There were some masses that they found and removed a couple weeks ago. After testing, they were found to be non-cancerous! HOORAY for that!

My sister's hubby was (and still is, somewhat) having some health issues. They are starting to regulate (last I heard...). There were some pretty extensive testing done and there was a scare about the possiblity of needing a replacement organ, but that since passed by after further testing was done.

My grandma (as some of you read before) fell and broke her knee cap (among other things). Surgery was done this afternoon and the doctor was confident in the pre-surgery appointment yesterday that she'd be able to walk after surgery...no more wheel chairs!!! This made everyone very happy and the surgery was scheduled. Last update I got (about a half hour ago), Grams is out of surgery and doing well. Everything went great and they're expecting to get her walking by this evening!! Isn't medical technology amazing?!

Tyler has an appointment scheduled for tomorrow afternoon for a culture on his bald spot. A couple weeks ago, I noticed that he had a bald spot on the top of his head (right about where his soft spot had been). I asked the pediatrician about it at Celeste's appointment on friday (she's doing well) and, because he'd been double booked that hour, he couldn't take an in-depth look at it, but just at glancing at it (with his magnifying instrument), there weren't any bites, so no bugs, but he was worried about a bacteria or fungus, so asked that I schedule an appt. to have a further look and testing done. So, I got the phone numbers for their labs that they use and spent this morning calling around to them to find out just how much the culture would cost. I spent 45 mins on the phone with the first one getting the run-around. I finally lost it and yelled at the receptionist to stop trying to be the dr and tell me what I was needing (after I had been told by the dr what culture we needed to ask about) and to just give me the price on the stupid culture! (yes, it was harsh but after a while of arguing, and lack of sleep...anyone would be a bit grouchy) She put me on hold and a few seconds later, got back on with the price I needed and extra fees that went along with their office. I thanked her and got off the phone. After cooling off a bit, I called the second lab and was on the phone for all of about 15 mins (most of that was getting through the automated system...gotta love it). After that, I called and set the appointment in stone and told them which lab we chose to go with.

Celeste, as I mentioned before, had her well-child check on Friday. She weighs in at almost 18 pounds and is 27 inches long. She's pretty short and stout compared to our other kids...except Tyler on the weight...lol. She got her shots, which she was NOT happy about, and we left after a closer look at her hips (Tyler fell on her a couple days before that and one of them "felt different" so a second opinion was given by one of the other dr's there). Later that night, she was uncomfortable from the shots that were given and the irritation caused by the rotation of her hips by the doctors. THEN, she started in on teething the next day. So, it's been a rough weekend for her...poor thing!

Terra and James are doing great as well. Terra is almost done with school (next Tuesday) and has loved this past school year. James is SO looking forward to next year, he can hardly contain it! The sickies have finally left (crossing our fingers and knocking on wood) and we couldn't be happier because next weekend is the Nelson Family Reunion and its something we look forward to each year. We would have hated to have gone with sick kids or missed altogether!

We hope this finds you all well and we love you and miss you all! Somedays it really kinda stinks living so far away from you all! Hope to see you all soon!

Stinky visitors...

Last night, we heard the neighbor dogs barking like crazy. We couldn't figure out what it was they were barking at, and so we stood out on the back porch wondering what it could be and we suddenly got a whiff of what they could have been barking at. We looked around the corner of the house...nothing, and then we glanced back at the dog pen and here comes Jetta boundin' away from the side of their pen and she starts rolling around in the grass...not so unusual for her...but then Shadow started sniffing around where she had rolled and trying to roll in it herself. Chris walked, very cautiously, might I add, up to the pen, takes a whiff and comes back and says, yup, she got it! We're guessing that the skunk was after our chickens, but because Jetta was so curious, it startled it and made it go away, so all our animals are accounted for. We're hoping that the "visitor" doesn't come back, but we're also going to ask the Fish and Game guy at church if we could borrow a live trap because, the thought also crossed our mind that this could be the very same skunk that hangs out at the church house across the street, causing a nasty aroma to inhabit the building!

On another note...totally not related...Chris took me out on a date this evening for Mother's Day. Can I just say that Carrabba's Italian Grill comes close to upstaging Olive Garden...they pretty much tie in my book! YUMM-O! AND!!! Since it was our first time at the restaurant, we got free dessert! We didn't even know about that rule either. We order an appetizer and drinks, then our main course and we just decided, for the fun of it, to order dessert. The manager on duty brought it out to us and thanked us for coming in and asked if we enjoyed our meal, he wished me a happy Mother's Day and said he just thought he'd take care of the dessert and come over and personally thank us for coming in. I thought that meant that he'd pay for dessert, but Chris assured me that it was just a kind gesture and that he'd take care of the dessert by bringing it over to us. I was right...when the bill came to the table...COMPLIMENTARY DESSERT!!!! And, might I add, it was the most sinful chocolate brownie-like cake EVER! WOW! Chris then took me clothes shopping. Since I'm not dropping the baby weight as fast as I normally do, I have no jeans that fit me - the two pairs that I *did* have either got paint stains on them or ripped right up the middle of my rear...poor quality jeans, in my opinion...couldn't be the fact that my bum is still too big for them or anything...!!! I got two pairs of jeans, a set of yoga capri's to work out in, a shirt that looks marvelous (Chris picked it out...otherwise I would never have even thought about trying it on) and a couple of nice bras! YAY!

My kids also gave me a Mother's Day gift....they went out in my front yard and picked all my pinkish-purple tulips out of my garden and brought them in for me...they're now sitting on my counter in some water...they actually do look really pretty! I love Mother's Day!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL YOU MOMS WHO READ THIS!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!

Rough Days...

...they happen! Sad thing is...when they happen to me...it ALL comes crashing down!

Mine started last night. I talked to my mom and found out that my Grandma was in the ER cuz she fell. It was a rather nasty fall, but lucky for her, it didn't kill her or mame her too badly...bad enough though. She broke her nose and her knee cap and had to get stitches across her forehead. She has to be in a wheel chair and can't be alone until she can walk again. She's a tough ol' bird, I tell ya!

Then, this morning, I noticed that BamBam, our cat, wasn't at the front door for his morning lovin' from the kids, so I called for him, and he never did come, then I came in and noticed what time it was...I was almost late picking Terra up from school. I decided to drive home a different way so I could see the street and make sure nothing had happened to him. Well, something DID happen to him. Sadly, I had to clean it up so the kids wouldn't see it. As we drove by, I had to lie to them and tell them there was a cow in the neighbor's yard, just to distract them from the sight...and what a sight it was. All I'll say is that his head is what was hit. I was sick to my stomach cleaning it up! I went inside and cried and cried. Seriously, this cat was like a dog, he'd frolick and play with the kids, he'd follow them everywhere and he'd let them haul him around everywhere too. The best cat anyone could ever find anywhere. I found myself wishing it'd been the other cat we own...but then I got mad at myself for thinking such a thing. I guess my country-bumpkin cats aren't used to "big city life".

As I was chatting with one of my sisters on here, my kids came running in from the backyard yelling "MOMMY! MOMMY! MOMMY!" I thought, oh great, they found the cat behind the dumpster...but no. They were holding up a dead baby turkey. I couldn't get a straight answer out of them on what happened, but have come to the conclusion that they opened up the baby coup and let in the bigger birds and they got attacked. Two of them died (we had six to start with), and one is mamed pretty badly and I don't think he'll make it through the rest of the day. The stories I was being told were that they were all "playing rough, and if you play rough you can get hurt and they did and died, mom"...and..."Tyler was trying to step on them and sit on them!" I really don't think that one is what happened, he might have tried to pet one and it ran away and he chased it and stepped on it accidentally, but all the feathers wouldn't be missing of that had happened.

So, when Chris got home, I had him bury the dead because I didn't have the stomach to do that. The mamed turkey is doing slightly better, so we've decided to wait till morning to see how he does, then decide on a coarse of action.

Needless to say, I've spent the better part of the day in tears. Chris told the kids that BamBam ran away last night, but I'm thinking we might have to really break the truth to them sooner or later. We'll think of something, I'm sure. In the mean time, I don't think I can handle anymore deaths, so I'm padlocking the whole backyard up. No getting into the coup, OR leaving the backyard!

Getting Settled...

I'm back online!!! YAY! We're completely moved and out of the other house now. If you want our new address, email me and let me know (smurffette00 at yahoo). We've gotten most of the repairs that he asked us to do done, but there's still a few. He said there's no hurry, but we'd like to get them done and out of the way soon. I've taken pics, but I haven't unpacked the office boxes yet, so I don't have the connection cord for my camera or SD card, so those will have to wait for now.

News around here...the sickies are back for a visit, but are starting to ebb away. I've also been asked to help out in a documentary. The birthing center that I had Celeste at called and asked if I'd be willing to help out with that. What they're looking into is the people that don't have insurance and how they cope with medical costs...mainly with having babies. They're looking for people who have been to both birthing centers and hospitals, as well as those who have only been to one or the other. They chose me out of their list of clients because they felt I'd be "literate in front of the camera" and that I'd give them the information they were looking for. I was rather flattered, but then after I got off the phone with them, I started wondering what I'd wear...since I'm not losing the baby fat very fast, I have very limited selection of wardrobe, all of which is either stained, ripped, or just rather worn-out. Maybe if I beg Chris hard enough, he'll let me go shopping! I also think that I need a mani and a pedi to cope with this as well... :o) What do you all think?! Maybe also a trip to the dentist to get my teeth whitened up a shade or two...hmmm, I might have to really start brown-nosing here! LOL, totally kidding!

Well, that's about all I can type for now, the kids are starting to explore more territory and are helping me unpack boxes...not exactly the kind of help I was looking for! I'll post more when I get more time freed up around here! Hope this finds everyone well! Love and miss you all!