Update - personal challenge

Well, the oven and stovetop got emptied and a small path was made to the closet but it still needs a LOT of work. This week's agenda is to get my Monday list done. I have a tear-off pad on our fridge (from the Target $1 spot) and the same week has been up there for ages. Monday has 3 things listed and I've been trying to get them done for well, ages. So that's this week's plan! Hope you're ready for Spring! :)

Helllllooooo!

No, I haven't been far far away. And no I didn't forget my password. Just a bad blogger I guess! :) Life has been filled lately but I want to make a few personal goals/challenges and I'm counting on this being the best place to find myself some accountability. I think this Lent* season is a good time to work on our home. Yes, we're STILL trying to get it ready to sell just haven't been pushed yet. Well the kitchen and our master bedroom need the most work at the moment. So I'm challenging myself to have the stove clean (all dishes clean and out, top cleared) and a decent pathway to our closet by Saturday. Maybe I'll post pictures. One small step for man (or homemaker) but one giant step for mankind (or our family)!

*Lent is traditionally seen by Catholics as a time to give something up. I grew up in a Southern Baptist Church and attend a Southern Baptist Church now, we didn't do anything special for Lent just celebrated Easter (Good Friday wasn't even that important - at least as far as I remember). Our family now celebrates Advent leading up to Christmas and have thought about doing something for Lent but haven't yet. [Apparently, I'm not the only Southern Baptist who didn't do much for Lent, Megan and I do have that in common. Oh, and I totally do run-on sentences too!]

P.S. If you subscribe to my feed (hi hubby) you may not know I added label categories on my sidebar. Not a big deal but check it out. I did it all by myself! :)

Frugal Friday - free tax preparation if you qualify

For today's Frugal Friday I wanted to talk about taxes. Ugh. For the last few years I start preparing my taxes by visiting the IRS' web site. Quite shocking isn't it! :) The IRS puts together a Free File web site that lists tax providers and their stipulations for filing your taxes for free. The web site begins Fri Jan 16 so if you go now (late Thur) you won't see much.

Year before last we filed our federal taxes with TurboTax for free. Last year we didn't qualify and used H&R Block's free program. The companies have gotten smart and usually give you a no frills level program but even if you start there it is usually cheaper to upgrade than if you started on the main page of the company's web site.

The IRS web site also lists free state filing options. Usually, we just go to our state's web site and file from there. Hope this helps someone in this tax season!

For other frugal hints, visit Crystal at Frugal Friday.

Hello again & Part 2

I feel like I've fallen off my duff as far as blogging goes and it's completely true! :) Oh well, sorry to leave anyone/everyone hanging on the diagnosis of our oldest.

Here's the end of part 1, we were in the ER:
"Then the doctor came and talked to me, what I thought was possibly an allergic reaction to the antibiotic was something much more serious.

To be continued . . ."

He said that her blood sugar was over 530 (I can't remember the exact number) and that she has juvenile type 1 diabetes. He said that she would be transferred by ambulance (of course!) to the nearest children's hospital. I just kind of let my chin drop, mouth hang open, and it wasn't long until the tears started to fall.

She looked so sick (well kinda anyway), so thin, so pale. I had pulled her hair up and wrapped a pony tail holder over and pulled the hair through so it would be out of the way in case she threw up. She had on her pink pajamas. She looked very thin and like a ballerina. She should've been performing on stage (though my kids have never taken ballet is beside the point) not lying in a hospital bed about to go on an ambulance ride!

Next I had to call my husband and tell him. He was asleep when I called, I felt bad for waking him. I really didn't think he'd even remember what I said, or that he understood the seriousness but he seemed to.

Some of the nurses came in, checking on us before their shifts ended or to say some kind words (one had a niece who was diagnosed not long ago), also a hug and shoulder to cry on. I truly appreciated their kindness.

We waited (and waited) for the ambulance, then it was time. The ambulance guys (2 men) were kind but also funny. It was what I needed. They helped us get settled at the children's hospital. Then the hurry up and long waits started, fast blurs of activity then long stretches of quiet, lots of guilt and crying on my part. (just keeping it real!)

The last few months of vague illness and sickness would soon make sense. If you keep track of such things, her hA1c was 12 (I just had mine checked and it was 5.4, we're starting to aim for her to be less than 7).

Later, I searched for mommy blog posts but found almost none about this topic, maybe I missed them for some reason. I want others to know that there is someone else out there, though our journey is not the same, our child's treatment/bodies/ages/diagnosis story is not the same, I'm also living this scary nightmare BUT thankful that God is in control and that my child is still here! Type 1 juvenile diabetes is manageable, livable, and one day maybe we'll look back and be thankful. Here's one college student I've found that is thankful: Mollie writes at a blog about diabetes.

Part 3 coming soon (more about our hospital stay, ugh!) :)

WFMW - vacuuming the high chair

Yes, it is that simple - vacuum the high chair (or booster seat) to clean it quickly. This works really well when the child has eaten something with LOTS of crumbs like crackers or you've let it build up for a while. Make sure you get under the highchair cover! For better nuggets of advice go to Shannon's. :)

My crazy life!

I hope I got all of the cheese out from under my fingernail. I hate the feel of processed slice cheese, but children #3 and 4 will eat it so we buy it. :) I was cleaning the highchair tray and got some stuck under my fingernail, ugh. I think it's gone now.

Well, I've been kind of MIA on my blog (did anyone notice? Bueller, Bueller, Bueller?) I need to give a quick shout out to Michelle (http://thisonesforthegirls.wordpress.com/). She said she'd be reading!! :) We've been trying to get our house ready to sell (yes, we've been doing this for months now) so I've been busy organizing and decluttering. But last week other events took over our lives.

Our oldest had a "boil" and a friend's sister-in-law (she's a nurse) advised us to see the doctor. So on Wednesday (a week and a half ago) we went and she started on an antibiotic. (Apparently, yesterday's boil is today's staph infection! Who knew?) Thursday night she threw up twice and was breathing funny. Hubby and I were watching a movie (and it was midnight) but I knew she needed to go to the ER. So I packed her up and hubby went to bed.

The ER wasn't very busy (praise God) so we got right in. They drew blood and ordered a chest x-ray. She went to the bathroom a couple of times, we came back to our "room" and the nurse asked if I'd seen the doctor. I said no, and she said they needed to start an IV. I thought ok, so there is something going on!

Then the doctor came and talked to me, what I thought was possibly an allergic reaction to the antibiotic was something much more serious.

To be continued . . .

Win a coupon management system

If you're like me, you could use some help organizing all of the coupons you have. This is a contest to win a coupon management system - and it looks beautiful. Please go here and enter too (or order one for yourself)!! :) Drawing will be held Thur Aug 27.

MIA

Sorry I've been MIA. We've been REALLY trying to get the house ready to sell. I've been prepping, cleaning, and PAINTING! :)

Hoping to write more soon,
Need A Nap2

COW APPRECIATION DAY!!

We appreciate Chick-Fil-A!! :) The kids and I went to Chick-Fil-A today, of course we dressed up like cows for some free food. We met a friend and her child (who were mildly dressed up). Last year we didn't see anyone dressed up but this year was a different story.


Here's one of my crew


Then here's the Chick-Fil-A cow

We used paper plates to draw cow faces on, then cut out ears and stapled them on. Two of my kids had paper grocery sacks to cover their torsos. The other two had white shirts with "spots" taped on them. Hubby was at work! :)

Yes, these pictures were taken AT Chick-Fil-A so we get extra points from Crystal at MoneySavingMom!! We saw several families that took white trash bags and added spots. One family (8 kids!) had white shirts with black skirts/pants and faces painted, they even had tails (one item I forgot completely). They were really cute.

What's going on?

Or for you Southerners - what's goin' on?

We've been busy at the Need A Nap household. We've had some birthdays (or coming up soon) so we'll change everyone's ages, ok? We now have a 7 year old, 5 year old, 3 year old and 1 year old. We're still homeschooling year-round. That way if "momma's" having a bad day we don't have to worry about skipping school today. :) We've purchased most of the curriculum we want to use this fall and I'm glad to have been able to get so much of it secondhand. I still need to get our schedule/routine under control. Our 3 year old can open the childproof door covers and the 1 year old is weaned so our schedule has been needing some changes!! :)

We're still trying to get our house ready to sell. It's been slow and tedious. I'm hoping to get some painting done this weekend (with a friend's help) so things will look a little better. We're trying to get a carport roof leak under control (the contractor wasn't successful and hubby's been using many tubes of roof caulk to take care of it, saves us $ to do it ourselves). I'm so thankful my husband is willing and able to get up on our roof. I usually don't mind heights (or things like rollercoasters) but being up on the roof made me very anxious and uncomfortable!

Hubby's birthday and our anniversary are coming up. I'm expecting both to be low-key events. We had a bigger celebration last year for our 10-year anniversary. And I gave hubby a surprise party for his 30th birthday a couple years ago. Any gift suggestions?

I'm hoping to do a little less blog reading and catch up on my Bible reading then maybe I'll be able to blog here a little more. We'll see! I did take the time to do 2 quizzes. I saw the first one at A Reforming Mom and both at Stray Thoughts.

This is a test for men or women on how they'd be as a 1930s spouse.

98 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Superior Take the test!

I was surprised I scored so high!! I don't think I'm that good of a homemaker but I guess I might be doing better than I think (my husband always says I am).

This was a test on your book reader personality. (Take the quiz here.)

Your Personality: Serial Eclectic Reader!
Your responses show that you are both a serial reader and an eclectic reader, which indicates that you both read widely and frequently.

As a serial reader you're loyal to your favorite authors, but as an eclectic reader you're also open to new ideas and new writers, and are not wedded to a particular genre. That you manage to both keep up with your favorite authors and explore new writers indicates that you are likely to be what the research companies like to term a "heavy reader" - and a BookBrowse membership might be just what you've been looking for!

I thought this was very accurate for me. I do have a selection of favorite authors/series but am willing to read a book that sounds interesting or is highly recommended.