Free Advent Calendar

I went online the other day looking for activity ideas to put in our advent calendar that we have. Even better, I found a calender full of activities and scriptures to go along with each day. Yea! Josh is really into advent calendars. My mom got us an advent calendar a couple of years ago. It has doors for each day that you can put treats or whatever in. Josh loved it last year and has been asking about it ever since he found out that Christmas is just around the corner. So this year, instead of just one advent calendar, we have four. The one my mom got us, the one I downloaded here, a Legos one I found at Target and a cute Christmas tree pillow one I found at Shopko on black Friday. I'm really excited to start all the activities on Tuesday night!!!!!

Chris Farley Lives On

Yes, it's true; Chris Farley lives on in my son. On The Chris Farley Show, guests would be asked lame questions like, "Do you remember when you were in that movie?" The answer, "Yeah." Response, "That was awesome."

Josh has been doing the Chris Farley routine with no prompting from us. He will ask us or anyone, "Hey, do you remember when we played in the gym the other day?" "Yeah." "We did that." Or, "Remember, you came over to our house that one time." "Uh-huh." "That was fun."

I'm glad that Chris Farley lives on. He was gone too soon.

My Trip to the Doctor

So, I've been trying to catch up on all my doctor's visits that I've put off while I was pregnant and after Benjamin was born. I went to the dentist - all good. I went in for a physical - things are good. I went in for a check up for my sleep apnea - not so good.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea about two and a half years ago. I sleep with a c-pap machine which I don't mind at all. I haven't been back to see my doctor since my original diagnosis so I thought it was about time. This doctor used to be my primary care physician as well. I didn't care for him too much or for his staff but I didn't really know why. Tim went to him as well and felt the same way. He found another doctor a few months ago and convinced me to give him a try. I went in for a physical about a week ago and this is the new doctor for me. He encouraged me to do a follow-up with the other doctor for my sleep apnea. I called and set an appointment while I was waiting to get some blood work done.

I got an appointment scheduled for Thursday. Awesome! I was going to get this over with quickly. I took off work in the middle of the day and headed over to the appointment. I checked in, paid my co-pay with a check (they don't have a credit card machine - this is another reason I wanted to find another doctor) and sat down. There was no one else in the waiting room so I figured I would get called back rather quickly. Nope. After about 20 minutes of waiting, the doctor comes out and motions to the receptionist, who is on the phone, to come back. All the sudden I hear the doctor yelling at the receptionist. This yelling goes on for about 20 minutes. I could not believe it. I had never felt so uncomfortable in my life. Right before the yelling was over, a few more people come into the office. The receptionist comes out, visibly upset, and checks them in. About 10 more minutes pass. So now I've been in the waiting area for an hour and didn't even want to go back to see the doctor. Well, I did want to go back but just to tell him that he was very unprofessional and I was taking my check and leaving. I asked the receptionist how much longer it was going to be and she said she didn't know. I told her I had to get back to work so she gave me my check and I left.

Now I know why I didn't like this doctor, he's a butt. Never again will I set my foot inside that office. I will travel anywhere else to find a new sleep disorder doctor. What a jerk!

Look Out, I'm Pretending to Be Crafty

So our ward did their Super Saturday two Saturdays ago. They had some cute stuff to do. I signed up for pillows. I decided that my living room needed a little sprucing up and they seemed really easy to make. They were so easy in fact, I made a whole bunch more for my bedroom as well.

All you have to do is get a placemat that is two pieces of fabric sewn together. You undo the stitching on about half of one side and stuff it full of fluff. When you're done stuffing, sew it back up. Super easy. And I'm only pretending to be crafty because I had my mom sew the pillow back up. They were about $5.00 a piece to make. The yellow ones were only $3.00 - those placemats were on sale. Way reasonable if you ask me considering some throw pillows I saw at the store ran anywhere from $15-$25. Anyway, here's how our bed turned out. Don't mind the wrinkles!

Do You Still Have a ...?

I felt like crap when I woke up on Wednesday morning. I drug myself into work only because I told one of my teachers that I could cover for her in the afternoon for an appointment. I got out the sub list, found someone to cover for me and went home to go back to bed. Tim called the doctor for me and insisted that I go in to get tested for H1N1. I went. While they didn't actually test me for H1N1, the doctor seemed to think it was that considering the symptoms, especially the over 101 fever.

When Josh came home, I had my mask on. I told him not to get too close because I was sick and had a fever. Not a problem for him. He was happy just to play trains and watch tv. I headed back to the bedroom to take another nap. After Benjamin was safely in bed, I made my way back out to the family room with my mask on. I sat down on the couch. Josh looked at me and asked, "Mama, do you still have that beaver inside you?" Yeah Josh, I still have the beaver. Thanks for your concern. We've really got to get that kid's hearing checked.

Rollin', Rollin', Rollin'

Benjamin rolled over for the first time last week! I was thinking that maybe he never would because I never give him tummy time. Yes, I know, I'm a bad mom. I figured he would get it eventually. I mean, come on. So here's some pics and a video. It took a while to get the pics because once he got it, he didn't want anymore of this tummy time thing.Quilt is compliments of Tim's aunt in Oregon. We love it! Here's the video.

Take Backs

When I was a kid, "take backs" was a big deal. I could give someone something, but if I changed my mind, I could call a "take back" and it would be mine again. It was great. Sometimes, I was on the other end of the "take back" and it wasn't too great. We got smarter as kids and started calling "no take backs". You had to call it super fast after obtaining your new treasure or it could be taken back just as fast as it had been received.

This week Tim and I have been on both ends of the "take back". Tim was offered a new position at work a few weeks ago. We waited to hear what his salary would be for about a week, all the time hoping it would be enough for me to stay home. We found out the salary and it was enough! We decided that I would turn in my resignation at work. I gave more that the customary two weeks notice. This is our busiest time of year and this don't really start calming down until the middle of October. I wanted to give them enough time to find a replacement.

With three weeks left until my early retirement, I get a call from Tim telling me that his work had called "take backs" on his new position. Even though it sucked, we couldn't really do anything about it. Tim hadn't called "no take backs". Luckily, he still had his old position to go back to but without the new and improved salary his new position would have brought. This meant we really couldn't afford for me to quit. But I already had. Had my work called "no take backs" on my resignation? I hoped not. They opened my position internally last Thursday so it still hadn't closed. i hurred and talked to my boss to see if I could call "take backs". Thankfully, they let me.

With all the ups and downs and "take backs" the past couple of weeks, we really can't complain. Tim and I both have really good jobs and in this enconomy, not everyone can say that. Josh has a great teacher at school. Benjamin has an awesome friend watching him. Our goal is still for me to be able to stay at home. We'll just have to work a little harder and wait a little longer for it to happen.