O (Love)

Good morning, my dears! Hope you all had a GRAND Valentine's day :) And that your sweetheart was very sweet to your heart :) hehe.

I couldn't find my phone last night when I went to bed. hehe. Apparently it was under laundry man. Yeah, he didn't quite go away. But they laundry was all on hangers. And in nice, orderly piles, ready to be hung up, according to color. Yeah, my closet is BEAUTIFUL :) hehe. If you EVER need to borrow something, you know where to come!

Anyway, I just figured that my kids would come and wake me up in the morning, so I went to sleep. And I woke up 1 minute before my phone went off. Under laundry man. I was glad to have found it, though :)

I, of course, went back to sleep. and got up around 7:15am. I coked eggs sandwiches in the shape of hearts (new sandwich cutter). Well, Tom cooked the eggs individually in the microwave, and I buttered the bread and cut them out. We made a good team!

And I got Tom and Eme and Joe out the door and on the bus. And I decided to play Just Dance for exercise. And yeah, I don't like Just Dance. I like Just Dance 2, but not the first one. So I decided to do a workout video. And you know what? I hate workout videos. I only made it about 4 minutes into the workout, and quit. Yeah, I needed some other kinda workout. That wasn't gonna cut it.

So I hopped in the shower, and got all ready and cute for the day. I wore that new shirt from yesterday that looked like it had the striped shirt under it (it was all one piece), and my new black flowy pants. That have a slit up to the knee. hehe. Only in El Paso, right?

The second I was all ready and dressed and about to go and get my morning snack, the phone rang. It was the school. Joe had gotten sick and barfed ALL over the classroom. POOR kid! So I grabbed my purse and phone and headed out the door. They said that he didn't have a fever, and that they thought he'd probably just had too much candy the night before, but that because he'd puked, he had to go home. Poor kid. He had puke all over his pants and shoes and socks. My baby could come home!

And Captain America Skype called my phone as I walked out the door. And I chatted with him to the school, and as I picked up Joe, and all the way home, and for a few minutes at home. And then I got a text from Terra saying that she was here to pick me up.

I'd decided to keep my appointments for the day (lunch with Terra and therapy appointment), because the nurse had said that he wasn't really sick. So I figured that he could stay with Jake, watch cartoons, and be fine.

I got him all settled with a movie and some gatorade, Jake was doing school nicely, and Jim was ready for his bus, and off Terra and I headed to the West side.

I found these 3D glasses in her van. Apparently the middle schoolers think it's cool to wear them at school. Yeah, I could totally pull off this look, huh? hehe.


First stop, Target to return something. Some cord that hooks up Terra's computer to the TV. I looked at it and told her it was a male/male, and she didn't know what I was talking about. You know what I mean, right? She's never heard that term when referring to components before. The male/female thing.

Anyway, while in the return line, I saw this parked there, and about fell over laughing. Really? You need one of these inside the Target? It's not a super target. It's not in a mall. I just kept thinking about Paul Blart, Mall Cop. And I SO wanted to hop on and take a picture, but I didn't. I held back..

And I had a little bit TOO much fun in the dollar section...

I ended up getting a few pairs of dollar socks. 2 St Patricks ones, and 1 Easter pair. SO cute! Can't wait to wear them. And then we headed to Howdys for a drink. But couldn't find a close one, so settled for Circle K. Which, of course, had no Diet Dr Pepper. Sigh. So I got a (gag) Diet Coke. Still, it's not Diet Pepsi... Terra got a sprite, I think.

See, I'll drink it, but I don't have to like it - hehe. And the lady behind the counter said that the 24 hour Circle K's all have Diet Dr Pepper. Huh? Didn't know that. Very good to know. Captain America and I always tried to figure out if there was any rhyme or reason to it.



And then we headed to the Dollar Tree. Because we had a few more minutes to kill before my therapy appointment. And I couldn't help but take a few more pictures. Yeah, I TRIED to get Terra to take some too, but she was having nothing to do with it. I'll keep working on her - hehe.

Designer tweezers. How cool is that?

Really? You want me to pay a dollar for 3 bags of fart smell? Are you freakin' kidding me? Wait, maybe I'm in the wrong line of work.....

hehe

We ended up buying mirrors for our girls, and these cute stickers to put their names on it. SUCH a cute idea, don't you think? After the dollar tree, we sat in the parking lot of my therapists office for 10 minutes and played with stickers. hehe.

And then I went in for my appointment, and Terra headed out for an hour. Her twins (2 yr olds) got to Daycare 2 days a week for a few hours, so she gets to have a little bit of adult (read:sane) time...

Here's me waiting in the waiting room, with my YUMMY (ha!) soda :)

It was a good session. I was SO proud of myself for sticking to my diet for the week. Like I promised that I would. And I liked the fact that I didn't necessarily promise that I'd stick to the diet, just that I promised that I would text Dr. Slade BEFORE I cheated, if I wanted to. So it wasn't like I couldn't if I really really really wanted to. Whatever the reason, it worked for me. I lost 6 lbs this week. See how much I must have been eating to loose 6 lbs by just eating good foods??? I was glad that I could stop my yoyo cycle from going any further. Usually, I lose weight, then balloon WAY back up, then loose weight, then balloon. And I only gained about 10-15 lbs this time (some of that muscle). And now I'm only about 5-7 lbs away from my goal weight. So I was feeling pretty good about myself!

And then we were done, and Terra came and picked me up, and we headed to lunch at El Taco Tote. Mmmmm, SO good. I practically inhaled the Brochetta part, and SO wanted to lick my plate when I was done, but didn't. I don't know what Terra would have done - hehe. I know she thinks I'm a spaz as it is! ROFL! She must like it, though, because she keeps inviting me places :)

I got a to-go box for the rice and beans and tortillas and extra chips. I figured that I could make food for Tom for his babysitting class tonight. He needs a sack dinner, and he would SO love this one! I was watching out for ya, Tom!

And then we headed home. It really was an enjoyable morning. Terra is a fun friend to hang with. We had a lot of nice grown up conversation and laughs! I need more of that in my life - hehe.

She dropped me off at home, and headed to pick up her girls. Jake and Jim were at home watching TV when I got home. And Jake had the extra laptop out, working on school. What a good babysitter. Jim had gotten on the bus just fine, and Jake had had lunch. Joe said that his belly was upset.

And then he proceeded to puke throughout the rest of the day. Yeah, nurse, I guess he really was sick... My poor baby! He spent the rest of the day on the couch.

I'd bought some St. Patricks day decorations at the Dollar Tree, so I hung those up before I had to get Jim from the bus. See, aren't they cute!?

I baked the final roll of cookie dough (those swirly ones), and got them all ready and prepared for the library. I like to bring a snack there when I go. Yeah, I know, I know, I go for the free food, but then I feel bad that my kids are eating so much, and I wanna help out - hehe.

I left Jake at home with Joe, and we headed out to the library. I took 2 of Laurie's kids with me, and she took Jim with her. The kids watched a movie on King Tut, and Kari and Laurie and I chatted. And I had time to design 1 WordArt pack.

And then it was time to take Tom and Elise (Laurie's oldest daughter) to babysitter class. So I gathered up all of my kids +1, and off we went. It was at the close location tonight, so it only took a few minutes. And I dropped them off, and headed back home. I think we were only gone about an hour.

And I made sure that Joe was doing ok, that his blanket was all good, and that he had a movie that he liked, and got hime more gatoraide, and some crackers for when he wanted some. He really wanted me to come and snuggle with him, but yeah, I don't need to get sick. I CAN'T be sick as a deployment single parent. Sorry, Joe. I hope you understand...

And then Jake told me that he wasn't feeling good. Sigh. And Eme said that her stomach was feeling upset. Really? Everyone's gonna get sick now? SO not cool. Jake ended up puking a few times during the course of the evening. At least he made it to the toilet. Poor guy. He looked pretty pitiful...

And Eme was pretty mellow during the evening. We watched the movie Babies together. Have you seen it? It follows the first year of life for 4 different babies. One from the states (San Fransisco), one from Tokyo, one from Mongolia, and one from Africa. And there wasn't a narrator or anything, just footage of the babies and their families. And my kids sat and watched the WHOLE stinkin' thing. It was SO well done and cute! LOVED every minute of it.

I must warn you, there's a lot of boobs in it - hehe. Breastfeeding moms and such. And those ladies in the village in Africa didn't wear shirts, so there were long hangy boobies there too. But, you know what? Women have boobs, and they feed their babies with them. And I guess that's ok if my kids see it in that context, in a documentary setting. No one was giggling or laughing or making fun, so I think they received it in the manner that they should have.

I loved the fact that the Mongolian baby and the African baby just crawled around and played with dirt and rocks and sticks and such. Makes me feel like a better mom for letting them eat M&M's from the couch cushions. ROFL! I know that the kids "favorite" part was when the African newborn pooped with no diaper on, and the mom used her knee to wipe the babys bottom, then used a corn cob to wipe her knee. They were SO grossed out - hehe.

Andrea called at some point during the movie, and I chatted with her for about 15 minutes. She was on her way home from Church mid-week activities. She's such a fun friend! Love ya, sis!

And then we finished up the movie, and I put kids to bed. Early. Because people were feeling sick. Joe is sleeping on the couch, cause it's easier to clean up puke there. And Tom came home at 8pm, and I made him and Jake go to bed too. Yeah, Jake was NOT happy about that. Change in the routine of a mildly autistic kid is NOT good.

Why, mom? Why can't we watch it?

Because you're sick, Jacob.

That's not a very good reason, mom.

Excuse me? I don't NEED to have a very good reason, Jacob. I said no....

Yeah, it went a bit like that. And there was some stomping and slamming of doors, but he got over it. He came down about 15 minutes later asking me to help him find a good book to read. And he wasn't upset anymore. I guess I just need to be patient, and figure out how to work with Autistic kids more...

And it's not 9:45pm. And my house is quite. The dog has put himself in his kennel for a nap. Joe is sleeping peacefully on the couch. The upstairs rooms are quite. Jim has stopped coming out of his room, so I'm assuming he's asleep too.

I missed Glee tonight, so I'm gonna have to catch it on hulu tomorrow... Love that show :)

I have doctors appointments (sports physicals) for 2 of the 5 kids tomorrow. We'll see how I possibly manage that one, what with sick kids and all. Pray for me - hehe :)

Click on the link below to go to my account to download the PNG file, and leave some love if you like my work. Thanks!

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This one is SO adorable, Sharon! I love love love it!!!