Trying not to laugh while my hair was blowin’ in the wind

So I have to tell you about yesterday.  I had that PFT, which came back completely normal – so most likely no asthma. (Which is good but also means I have no idea why I’m still coughing; chronic bronchitis after all?)

Anyway, when I got to the hospital and checked in, the receptionist said to go to the info desk for directions. I asked the guy standing there and he said “Pulmonary. I gotta get you a chair.”

He left and a few minutes later came back with a wheelchair.

A WHEELCHAIR. I looked at him, said “seriously?! For an asthma test?!” His response was “well, they want you to have breath by the time you get up there.”

Um, okay.

I felt SO SILLY being pushed around the hospital. I could hardly keep myself from busting out laughing and had to bite my lip to keep from doing it. I felt so utterly ridiculous, being quite capable of walking and all.

(Except, after a few minutes being pushed around, I realized what he was talking about when we went hallway after hallway after hallway (where IS this place?!) with no end in sight. Yeah, I probably WOULD have been out of breath by the time I had walked to the moon Pulmonary.)

And also? He pushed that chair FAST.

The test itself was no big deal and I was out of there within the hour.  Which was good because Wednesday is my shopping day and there was still plenty of the afternoon left for that.  (Andy was off and he had the kids. Nice.)

Today we’re going swimming and then Madeline has her 5-year check up (she doesn’t know).  I started reading her Pippi Longstocking yesterday and so we’ll bring that.  And I’m sure we’ll stop to buy a watermelon and a Sonic slushie on our way home, as a post-check-up treat.

And it’s up!

Yesterday, ALL BY MYSELF, I drug the remaining top-bunk box down from the attic, and started getting the bed set up. Andy had to pick up an extra bolt (one of the included ones was stripped or something) on his way to work, but we were able to finish last night. The kids were so excited they barely paid attention to their bedtime story.

(That photo doesn’t show the depth well, but it’s really a full on the bottom and a regular-sized twin on top.)

Arianna slept in there, too, in the crib. She woke up once (at 2 a.m.), nursed, and then slept the rest of the night.

(And there was much rejoicing.)

space small, space beautiful

For a while now, I’ve been trying to clear our tiny house of all the excess and clutter. When you have a small house, you just need less stuff. And for what stays, I want everything in my house to be stuff that I love.

This is a little project I did a few weeks ago. I don’t have a before picture, but, I used to have this white juvenile lace(sorta) runner on my dresser top that I never really liked. It finally occurred to me to update it. (But I was also “determined not to just settle on something nice at Target.”)

I found this online, out of stock, but VERY thankfully, our BB&B had it in-store. (And I had a coupon.) It happens to match my walls perfectly (a little more celery than the photos suggest.) And I LOVE how it turned out.

The flowers mostly run along the front edge, except at the ends. It’s reversible and the flip side is green with white flowers (which was too much against my green walls.)

I also found this doll on clearance at Hobby Lobby, perfect for keeping some necklaces:

Something that used to bother me (my dresser) now makes me smile every time I walk into our room.

Your regularly-scheduled Monday blather

We had a pretty good weekend, especially considering we didn’t go anywhere on Saturday. (I did brave the heat to my mailbox, which should count for something.) I saw a drive-by of Dolly, otherwise known as my Costco-pajama-delivery-service. (Don’t you have one of those?)

The best day was Sunday. Andy sang a solo during the special music part of the service – his first one in over a year. Which reminds me, I never did mention he’s been offered free voice lessons at an area university to prepare for his master’s audition. So there’s that.

[We laughed in Sunday school when our leader asked if he ever sang to me at home. Andy singing at home is mostly vocal exercises that would drive anyone nuts. (Just ask Nicky.) We shared about the other day when I was in the bathroom trying to get my makeup done and he belted something out -- I was annoyed because I can't concentrate with someone shouting in my ear.]

We hung out with our Shepherding group in the evening, which is always fun and a sweet time of fellowship.  The plan was to play games but we ended up chatting the entire time.  (And most people stayed late, another good sign.)

Today we went back to the fountains, this time with friends. Which means we’re all a little sun-kissed and tired tonight (just the way I like it).

A little bit of virtual housekeeping

First, I finally got around to rewriting my About Me page (up there in the nav bar). I’ll be honest, it’s probably still just a draft. I’m open to comments and suggestions.

Also, I’m excited to be working with a few new affiliates, listed under my BlogHer ads right there on the left. If you should choose, I’d make a small commission if you ordered anything through me from DaySpring (a Christian division of Hallmark), Tiny*Prints (a GREAT place to get your custom birth announcements, party invitations, holiday cards, etc.), and free baby samples at BabiesOnline. (That last one is simply to order free baby samples — they do not sell anything.)

(You know, so I can save up some pennies for the next vehicle repair.)

I’m going to be updating some of my other pages soon, too, when I have the time… I know my blogroll page at least is…ancient. Does anyone use those anymore?

Just because

(Alternate title: impromptu mini photo shoot)

We cleaned out the kids’ rooms last night while Arianna watched, perched up on the bed.

And this one cracked me up:

(No wonder they make baby toys at least big enough.)

Hope you’re enjoying this fine Saturday, too, wherever you are!

For the Grandmothers

Instead of reading to Drew last night, I made him read to me. This is a little excerpt. I know one thing, this was not me fresh out of Kindergarten!

Summer Sandals

I’m posting today at Chic Critique, chatting about my summer sandals.

Start the day over, please, even at 5 p.m.

The first three-fourths of today were entirely frustrating.  I’m supposed to go in and have this PFT (pulmonary function test) done – about the asthma, see if it’s truly there and how much – and so my appointment was for 2:30 today.  The directions said “no inhalers, no smoking, no caffeine” beforehand.  I joked with the nurse that that last one just might kill me.

Which, of course, on the day I can’t have any coffee, my girls WOULD wake up two hours early and come bouncing into our room.  And the baby wouldn’t fall back to sleep after her morning feeding.  I felt like I began the day in the negatives.  (Well, I did!)  And, I was still coughing since no inhaler meds.

So I (literally) stumble through the day, coveting Andy’s coffee cup, and we finally leave for the test.  The plan was for Andy to drop me off and take the kids for free ice cream at Chick-Fil-A.  That part of the plan went smoothly.

I, on the other hand, walked all around the hospital, lugging Arianna with me, and no one knew where I was supposed to go.  Finally I walked back to the dr’s office to ask the nurse that made the appointment and she figured out that they were wrong, those tests aren’t performed at that particular hospital anymore.  They rescheduled me for next week, at the right hospital.

And I still hadn’t had any coffee.  And it was hotter than… well, enough to make anyone extra cranky.

BUT, some friends had us over for supper and that redeemed the entire day.  Funny how that happens. :)

Party for Three

Beat the Heat

What we did yesterday…

If Arianna’s face is any indication of what it was like out,

and it’s supposed to be 96 again today.  (Where’s that hose?)

(Alternate title: First Day of Summer)

(Alternate alternate title: Get Out Of The House Quick Before Mama Loses It From All The Bickering)

She calls me her Sweet Mommy

(in her ruffle pants!)

because I ask her ALL THE TIME if she’s my sweet Adelaide.

Happy Father’s Day!

When I came home from dropping the girls at their princess party, this is what I found:

Arianna, covered in blueberries.

(Vintage 1960’s edit via Picnik.)

He had pureed blueberries and apples for her IN OUR [cleaned out] COFFEE GRINDER. (Such an Andy thing to do.) And apparently she loved it!

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads!

Back Up and Running

WHEW.

I’m happy to say I survived the No Internet For A Week. No car, either, for three days of it. (We had the timing belt changed and new front tires, water pump, etc. on my van and let me just tell you, that bill was a doozy.)

About Madeline. Last Saturday evening, she came hopping in the front door, screaming, blood everywhere. She had stepped on a piece of a broken glass jar on the neighbor’s “other” front porch. (They have two doors since the house was originally a duplex, but they don’t use the one on our side for usual coming and going. The kids play there but that’s about it.) My neighbor said she had known there was glass on the stoop but hadn’t had time to sweep when she first saw it and then forgot about it.

(One of those unfortunate nobody’s-fault-but-everyone’s-fault-all-at-the-same-time-s.)

I called another neighbor to come help me and we got the cut rinsed and bandaged and then wiped up all the blood she had tracked in.

I didn’t want to open her cut to see how deep it was, but I figured if I couldn’t get it to stop bleeding I’d have to take her in. (Which, let’s face it, alone with four kids on a Saturday night – a trip to the ER was something I did NOT want to do.)

And now, here it is a week later, her foot is almost healed and she was finally able to start walking on it again yesterday. She spent the first half of the week on the couch, bandaged up, hopping around on the other foot (which is sort of like a tracking device since I could always hear wherever she was in the house by all her thudding), being pushed in a stroller or just plain carried around (which got old real fast).

Andy took Drew and Adelaide swimming one day, and since Madeline had to stay home we baked cookies. In her pajamas.

She also got to go (with Adelaide) to a princess party on Wednesday. The report was all the little girls pushed her around in a stroller to wherever they were playing. It was good for her to get out of the house and do something special.

I think she’s standing on one foot in that photo.

Anyway, I’m glad to have my blog back up, Madeline on the mend, a vehicle in good shape, granola still in the pantry… and I’m halfway through The Help, which Sarah lent me her post-book-club copy. It’s gooood. I was glad I at least had something to do while I was living in the dark ages.

Dolly here

Moriah asked me to step in and let you know that this fab blog of hers might be a little quiet for a while. She is in the midst of switching internet carriers and dealing with a crippled Madeline. Don’t worry, Madeline will be okay. There was some sort of incident involving Madeline’s foot and a piece of glass. No stitches thankfully. But you can imagine how hard it is to keep an active 5 year old off her foot until it heals. Fun times I’m sure.

Hopefully ya’ll are enjoying your summer a bit more than Moriah is at the moment. I’m sure she’ll be back soon with heaps of stories and pictures to entertain us with, as always.

It’s a little bit wild

(Her hair.)

The full effect:

She’s my jelly donut.

Hey y’all

my post is up at Chic Critique today.

The REAL one

Madeline’s officially allowed to say she’s five. (It always annoys me when people say their new age a week early. Call me particular. Whatever.)

A friend of mine’s 9-year-old has a China doll sitting on her dresser and ever since Madeline saw it, she’s been asking about one. My mom found a glass doll for her, and she got to open it yesterday:

(We have since removed her, um, hat.)

And then these people came over:

(That’s my cousin Evangeline. They live in New York so obviously I don’t get to see her very often.  Which is just sad.)

I didn’t make Madeline take an afternoon nap (being REAL birthday and all), so she and Drew and a neighbor friend made a huge fort out of my living room and I pretended not to notice the mess. We ate dinner with friends at Chick-Fil-A (free kid Tuesdays), and then she got to pick out a “jewelry box” in the makeup-container section at Target. She chose pink and sparkly.

We still had cake leftover from the party so we did that again, too, sans candles. This morning when I asked her how old she was she held up her whole hand. (How did she get this big?!)

So.  We got the 5th birthday properly celebrated.