Thursday, October 29, 2009

Telemarketers

Telemarketers think they're so sneaky. First one called this morning and asked if Jake was home. I said no and asked who was calling. They told me and I said they can call back tonight. Two minutes later the same number pops up on my caller ID! I ask who is calling and they won't tell me. They said it's a "personal business call". Yeah, ok. I say, "You JUST called here and I told you to call back tonight!" and they hung up!

I thought about calling THEIR number back!!

What do you do when telemarketers call? Are you nice and stay on the phone? Do you hang up? Do you tell them a joke? What do you do?

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Do you vaccinate?

With all the H1N1 craze going around it seems like all people are talking about are vaccines. So, do you vaccinate and why or why not?

Kylie was fully vaccinated up until 18 months and has not received any boosters. Kaydence was vaccinated until 12 months but did not receive her MMR. Emeric had his 2 month shots and has had no more.

I wish I'd been more informed when my girls were young and I would not have vaccinated them. When Emeric was born I felt much more informed and decided I was not going to vaccinate him and then my doctor pressured me into having him vaccinated. Two days later he had his first seizure. Now sure it may seem coincidental but I can, off the top of my head, think of at least 10 children whose seizures were triggered by vaccines. A lot of the ingredients in the vaccines including aluminum and formaldehyde(among others) are known neuro toxins. It's unclear whether the vaccines themselves triggered Emeric's seizures or fever caused from the vaccines.
Whatever the cause, none of them will ever receive another vaccine.

So, with that said I'd love to hear your stories and opinions!

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Thoughts of the day

Unimportant thought of the day: We're having a Halloween party next Friday night at our house. Thankfully since I never dust I've got plenty of cobwebs in the corners to make it look like I've spent a lot of time decorating! I'm so resourceful!


Less random, more thought out thought of the day: I am really, really tired of poop. I'm tired of changing diapers, tired of scraping poop off with a knife into a container to store in my refrigerator, tired of cleaning my carpet and washing ridiculous amounts of laundry. We are seeing the GI on Friday and I may very well corner her in her room until she gives me a solution to the problem.

Someone else's thouht of the day: Faith does not say, "I see this is good for me; therefore God must have sent it." Instead faith declares, "God sent it; therefore is must be good for me." Phillips Brooks

Funny thought of the day: The girls were playing a few weeks ago and Kylie told Kaydence where to find something. Kaydence replied, "Well duh!" to which Kylie said angrily, "You don't even know what duh means!!" and then she proceeded to walk into her room but quickly turned around and said, "And I don't either!"

Friday, October 16, 2009

Pet Peeves

Pet Peeve- d. A pet peeve is a minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly annoying to them, to a greater degree than others may find it


My top 10:

1. Bad drivers- Especially the ones that are so oblivious to what's going on around them that they don't even realize they just cut you off, pulled out in front of you, or drove you into the nearest ditch.

2. Mispelled/Incorrectly used words- I cannot stand seeing words mispelled, specifically in newspapers or on ad signs. It's also a pet peeve of mine when people use the words their, they're and there in the wrong way.

3. Using the word "retard"- Unless you're talking about a mentally retarded person I can't stand hearing it used as a slang word in replace of saying someone is stupid, dumb, etc.

4. When a person makes a sucking noise with a straw & the cup is empty

5. Text-messaging someone while in a conversation with someone else

6. Using the word "supposebly" instead of "supposedly"

7. 97% of the people that shop at Wal-mart

8. Listening to a parent say, "I'm going to count to 3 and then we're leaving" and instead count to 10 and then stay anyway.

9. Being late

10. Not using a car seat!

Those are some of mine, what are YOUR pet peeves?

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tide Stain Release

I have always used either Purex or Baking soda and Vinegar in my wash. Recently my cloth diapers started stinking and someone suggested washing them with Tide. I hadn't ever bought Tide before because it's so expensive and I figured it really couldn't be any better than the cheaper detergents. Wrong. Ok, not wrong about the so expensive part, that part is true, but I really did find that Tide did a better job of cleaning my clothes.

That's not to say I'm going to start buying Tide on a regular basis because Purex is a lot cheaper but when I picked up the Tide I also picked up some Tide Stain Release and I LOVE it! I pour just a tiny capful in my laundry and it really helps. Plus it smells good! I've rubbed it right on stains and then soaked them and that stuff has gotten out more stains than anything else I've tried.

So, there's my advertising for today! Go buy some Tide Stain Release and then let me know what you think of it!

Monday, October 12, 2009

What cleaning products do you use?

For laundry?

For cleaning floors?

For cleaning bathrooms?

Friday, October 9, 2009

"Let us rejoice and be glad in it" Alternately titled: I'm pooped.

Can I just say that unless my day gets better than it has been for the last 2 hours I will most certainly not be rejoicing.

6:30am-alarm clock goes off, I get up to get Kylie ready for school and Emeric is screaming in his bed

6:31am-I get Emeric up and he STINKS

6:35am- I get Kylie out of bed to get her ready for school

6:37am- I change Emeric and find a plastic spoon so I can scoop poop out of his diaper and into a plastic container that I'm required to keep in my refrigerator. Yum.

7:00am- I point to yet another box of cereal that Emeric wants one minute and not the next

7:17am-I lay Emeric on the chair with his blanket because he looks like he might fall asleep and I walk Kylie out to the end of our driveway to put her on the bus

7:20am-I walk up to the door to come back in the house and the door is locked. I contemplate coming in through the basement but don't want to wake our "rentors" so I begrudgingly knock on Kaydence's window to try to wake her up to come and unlock the door.

7:22am-I continue knocking and finally hear Kaydence start coughing which means she's hopefully waking up. I also realize if she's coughing this means a nebulizer treatment or two are in our future.

7:23am-Kaydence wakes up and unlocks the door

7:45am-Both of the kids eat breakfast

8:08am- I call the clinic to make Emeric's follow up appt. with the doctor

8:15am- I decide to scrub out the entire bathtub.

8:25am- Since the bathtub is freshly cleaned I figure the kids might as well take a bath now.

8:30am- I put the kids in the bathtub and fill it with bubbles.

8:35am- I hear a rumble. Bathtub water is quickly turning brown. Emeric is saying, "uh oh"

8:35 1/2am- I grab both kids out of the bathtub and wrap them in towels

8:40am- I ponder looking through the classifieds for a full time PAID job.

8:45am- After the water has drained and I have finally swooshed all of the poop down the drain I go get the bleach to clean the bathtub yet again.

8:55am- The bathtub is clean. I yell for the kids(still naked from previous short bath) and I walk out the bathroom door only to smell something horrid.

8:56am- Emeric has pooped AGAIN. This time all over the carpeting, toy trucks, stuffed animals, fabric bins, his hands, e.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

8:58am-I put both kids back into the bathtub

8:59am- I walk out of the bathroom to get carpet cleaner, rags, Lysol and nose plugs and consider locking myself out of the house again.

9:00am- Clean up of disgusting, rancid smelling bedroom begins.

9:15am- Get kids out of bathtub, dress and diaper QUICKLY

9:25am- Sit down to blog about my enjoyable morning while the bleach continues to eat away at my now dry hands.

9:27am- Check my online bank account to see if there are enough funds to hire a babysitter for the day. Realize there are not. Decide instead to breath a sigh of relief that it's all over(for now) and get out my Walmart list to add: Bleach, Lysol, anti-diarrheal meds, chocolate, entire room full of new toys.

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Vacation on a tight budget

The trip we're taking doesn't seem like a vacation because we're going specifically for doctors appointments. Three of them to be exact. We'll be heading to Minneapolis in a few weeks and our entire family is actually going! It's been a long time since we've done anything together that involved staying overnight somewhere. We'll be gone for 5 days as Emeric's appt's are Thursday, Friday and Monday.

Thankfully because this is a trip for medical reasons we'll get some expenses reimbursed but I figured the kids aren't just going to want to sit in the hotel the entire time so I did some searching online to try to come up with cheap ideas of ways to have fun.

Here's my non exhaustive list:

1. The Mall of America. Obviously. There's Lego Land, the American Girl store and a bazillion other stores that are just fun to look at. Well, at least for the girls and I.

2. On Saturday mornings the MOA(Mall of America) theater has free movies for kids so I'm hoping Jake won't mind keeping Emeric at the hotel because he's impossible to watch a movie with(Emeric that is, not Jake. He's reasonable.) and I can take the girls.

3. Pumpkin patch! Free admission during the week and this should be a lot of fun for the kids!

4. Mall play place. Quite a few malls in the area have play places and the kids will enjoy playing and I will enjoy window shopping! :)

5. Again, the MOA. There's free trick or treating there on Friday night!!

6. Home Depot-I realize this is probably nothing exciting for those that have a local Home Depot but we don't and they have free crafts for kids on Saturdays.

7. Children's Museum-This isn't free or necessarily cheap but it's the one place we'd like to take the kids where there should be plenty to do.

8. The hotel pool! Enough said! :)

9. State capitol- They give free tours. No one but me will likely enjoy this but oh well. It's free and it's right across the road from Emeric's doctor.

10. Como Zoo-Free admission!!


So, I think we'll have plenty to keep us busy and while I'd love to be able to do all the other fun, expensive things, I'm just happy that we're actually all able to go on this trip.

Emeric will see Nephrology on Thursday, Opthalmalogy on Friday, and then Monday he has an EEG and then an appt. with the neurologist in the afternoon. In between all of that we can hopefully fit in some of these activities. Really as long as I am able to make a daily trip to various Target stores I don't care what else we do!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Some thoughts from Beth Moore...

Prescription for Anxiety:

Philippians 4:6-7

"Do not be calm about anything, but in everything, by dwelling on it constantly and feeling picked on by God, with thoughts like 'and this is the thanks I get' present your aggravations to everyone you know but Him. And the acid in your stomach, which transcends all milk products, will cause you an ulcer, and the doctor bills will cause you a heart attack and you will lose your mind." Beth Moore

Prescription for peace:

"Do not worry about anything; instead pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus."

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Living With Seizures conference

We just got home from a 4 hour drive to our conference that the Epilepsy Foundation of Minnesota put on. It was very informative and while I can't say I really learned anything new necessarily it was still great to go and meet other families affected by epilepsy.

First we sat down before the morning session and the couple sitting at our table asked who was affected by epilepsy in our family. We told them our son and talked for a bit and then I asked them the same question and it was the woman who was affected. She talked about losing her driver's license because of having seizures while driving and not being able to work. She started crying and I knew it was going to be an emotional day.

The first session talked about all of the different medications and they rated them according to how they affect learning, green light, yellow light, red light. Of course Topamax is a red light drug meaning it affects cognition, speech, processing speed, etc... This is exactly why we're getting him off this drug!

The second session talked about success in school and then there was question an answer with a panel of both doctors and people whose children had epilepsy.

During lunch the speakers were a couple whose daughter died a year ago in August very unexpectedly from Epilepsy. There story was very inspiring but hard not being able to imagine how they must still be feeling.

The afternoon sessions talked some more about school and preparing your child for the future. I talked to one mom who asked if we'd tried the Ketogenic diet, one mom who talked about behavior issues, and a woman from the MN Dep't of Education about laws regarding special ed. We received a ton of handouts, videos, etc...

All in all it was a really good day and nice to meet other people who have children affected by epilepsy or who are affected themselves. At the same time it was hard to hear about so many children experiencing side effects to medication and having no other option but to be on medication. You always outweigh the benefit vs. the risk and for some children those side effects are better than multiple, daily seizures.

I'm very interested in the future of medication options and other treatment for Epilepsy. We know the likelyhood of Emeric outgrowing his seizures is very slim so the key would be minimizing medications and then minimizing the side effects of those medications.

I think I've said before but once you've failed 2-3 seizure drugs your chances of ever having full seizure control are less than 5%! Those are obviously not great odds and Emeric too has failed 3 so while it's hard to remain optimistic I can at least hope for minimal side effects with the meds he does need to be on.

I have a ton of links to find different information on Epilepsy and I'd encourage you to take a look if you haven't because while you may not be affected directly or indirectly by someone with Epilepsy it helps us all to learn because as we learned today... Knowledge is Power! :)

Friday, October 2, 2009

T minus 6 hours...

Jake and I and his parents are leaving at 3:30am to head to Minneapolis for an all day "Living With Seizures" conference sponsored by the Mayo clinic. Should be informative if I can stay awake for it!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Our basement: from start to *almost* finish



For some reason I can't find any pictures of the basement before the walls were up but these are close to the beginning.












Notice that you can see the seam in the carpet towards the right where the wall angles? That's because the carpet is a different shade! It shouldn't be like that and the guy that laid it said it the company should replace it but because it wasn't a small company but rather a large one where we purchased it it's unlikely they will replace it. They will do SOMETHING though, I can guarantee you! :)

It isn't totally finished. We still need doors, trim, and some other odds and ends but it's coming along!! When the bathroom and kitchen are finished I'll post pictures of them too! :)

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