Oh Baby, Baby, Baby

People look at me like I am crazy when I say I loved being pregnant, but it's true....I really did. It was just such an amazing feeling to know that there was a little life growing inside of me. I loved how it felt when they moved, when they had hiccups and when they would stretch out their little hand or foot or their little butt. I would be pregnant again in a second...if I wasn't already 57 years old!!

I had good pregnancies for the most part. I gained 35 pounds with Tresa, 40 with Michael and 45 with Matt...maybe it's good that I didn't have a fourth baby! Never had morning sickness...I refused! Lots a cravings for ice cream...or at least that's what I told Irv they were so he would go get me some!

Tresa was born when I was 22 years old. I was so ready. I had been around little kids my entire life. I loved kids. Tresa was little Miss Perfect. She was a happy, healthy little girl that we toted everywhere with us. If we went to friend's houses to play cards, she would bring her little blanket and when she got tired she would plunk down within sight of us and go to sleep. As a toddler she slept 12 hours a night and took a couple of good naps every day. She talked really early and had this very grown-up little voice that caused people's heads to turn in the store when she started talking. Tresa was the perfect little baby, but she sure didn't prepare me for what was next.

That was Michael! Oh the trouble that little guy gave me. I went into labor at 6 months and again at 7 months with him and ended up in the hospital overnight so they could stop labor. It's a darn good thing they did too. Michael was born with Hirschsprung's Disease. He had no nerve cells in his colon and to make it simple to comprehend...he couldn't poop! One emergency surgery, one colostomy, and two other surgeries and he was as good as new....well actually there is a heck of lot more to it than that and he has given me permission to write about it which I will do another time. It was the most frightening thing that has ever happened to me, and made me realize just how lucky we are when we have a healthy baby. With a sick baby that refuses to sleep in a bed, you turn into a zombie, even though it is mostly your fault for never letting the baby cry. You do get to know all of the late night tv shows and you walk around in a haze a lot, but I would do it again in an instant. He was a neat little kid!

Then came Matt.....hmmmmmmm....what can I say about Matt? The pregnancy was uneventful, and we and the entire hospital staff celebrated when he pooped for the first time! That meant no Hirschsprung's Disease for him. Matt was born able to run and ride a bike! Well that's an exaggeration, but he did ride a two wheeler without training wheels the week before he turned four. He told us to take the training wheels off because he couldn't keep up with Michael and his friends when they road through the trails between some of the houses with them on. We took them off, and after a number of crashes....he was gone and we never saw him again.! Another exaggeration of course. Matt was a terror on wheels. We only made a couple of trips to the ER for stitches and broken bones, but I always said that if he had been my first...he would have been my only.

For those of you that have kids, I'm sure you can relate. For those of you that don't but plan to...I hope I haven't frightened you.

Why Can't I Ever Find The Great Deals?

Well, I just got back from the mall. It's a really nice outdoor type mall with really great stores. I have a couple of pairs of black pants so I just wanted two tops....one that I could wear to our shower Sunday and then one that I could wear to Chris's family's shower next month. Tresa went shopping on her lunch hour yesterday and found a cardigan sweater for $11.00 and a blouse for $6.00. I was hoping to find some really great deals.

Those of you that follow my blog know that I do not like to shop. When I need something and have to go shopping, I never find anything. When everyone else, like Tresa, tell me they found all these great deals, I never find any.

Tresa finds good deals because she wears these tiny little baby sizes. You know, when you go to the sale rack and the whole thing is size small or x-small. That's Tresa. I love it when you go to the sale rack and it's packed with stuff in your size, but there are 40 of everything you look at. That tends to mean that no one bought them.....uh.....why is that? Either the neck hole is too small to fit your head through it or the sleeves are a foot too long! Does that ever happen to you?

I went into this tonight with a really great attitude. I knew I would find the two things I needed. I was even considering buying a dress for the shower next month....I can't believe I even considered that...but if I had found a great dress for really cheap...like the $20 one Tresa found last week....I would buy it!

Well I went into Banana Republic first. They have amazing sales. Hmmmmm....nothing really knocked my socks off. So, no luck at Banana. Next, I tried J Crew and then Ann Taylor. They had a lot of great looking clothes, but not much on sale and I really didn't want to pay $80 for one top.

Getting a little concerned, I went into J Jill. I never shop at J Jill because it's out of my budget, but I actually ended up finding a really cute top for the shower this Sunday. It was not on sale, but at this point $50 didn't sound too bad, so I bought it.

It's really cute. It has a couple shades of grey with some black and pink. It has the high waist that reminds me of a maternity top and 3/4 length sleeves. It'll look great with the black cuffed slacks I bought a couple of weeks ago.

I did not find anything for the shower next month, but I still have time. Once we get our shower done Sunday, then I will head out and find something to wear to that one and find shoes and jewelry for the wedding, and a suit, shirt, tie and shoes for Irv!

Getting ready for the wedding would be so darn much fun if it just didn't entail all of this shopping!

Use Your Thoughts Wisely

I am a firm believer in the power of the mind. I honestly feel that we can think ourselves into good or bad situations. By thinking positively, good things happen. By being a big negative mope...well you get the picture.

For the past month I have been trying to figure out a way to jazz up my FourDogDay etsy shop. It isn't in horrible shape, but the more I look at my new shop, MyOtherShop, the more I recognize the fact that FourDog needs some help. MOS is looking good. It is still only one page, but there is more coming soon and I like the way it looks.

So, for this past month I have been wracking my brain about what I want to do with FourDog, and no matter how much I thought about it, the answer wasn't coming to me. Every day I would think about it some more, but nothing. I couldn't figure out what I didn't like about the look of the shop, so it was hard to visualize what I needed to do with it.

Then yesterday while I was sitting at work it came to me. MOS has such a nice clean uniform look to it and FourDog is all over the place. Part of that is the nature of the shop. It's cards and tags and things. They all get photographed differently and that's just how it looks, but I had some ideas.

I decided that the recycled jewelry has to go. I'm not even making it any longer and don't intend to for now, so once it expires it's gone. I had also made some journals and photo albums for Christmas and didn't sell a single one. It was pretty disappointing because I thought they were really nice. I decided I won't make any more of those either, so when they expire, they are gone.

All of a sudden I was really excited about FourDog. I hadn't been feeling good about it and now I was psyched! I had ideas spinning around in my head and it felt so good. I was arranging my sections in my mind and I was on fire.

I got home from work and immediately started to look at some of my photos and cards, trying to decide what other things I would change. I went in to check my e-mail and holy cow....I had a sale. Are you ready for this? It was a necklace!!! HAHAHA!!! I couldn't believe it! I was laughing so hard. I haven't renewed a piece of jewelry in ages. I don't promote the jewelry, I don't do anything for the jewelry. I'm not sure how someone even found the jewelry!

I was thrilled though and got the order together so I could mail it out. I went in to check to be sure the PayPal and etsy addresses matched and they didn't. I thought I had better e-mail her to ask where she wanted it sent. I went back to my e-mail....and yep...you guessed it! I had another sale....and here is the creepy part....it was one of the photo albums!!!

Now I am not laughing....I am just in awe! All day long I had been thinking about FourDogDay. I was thinking about my products and really zeroed in on the jewelry and the journals and photo albums. I was putting my thoughts out into the universe and......you can think what you like, but I know what I think!

I know it all sounds crazy, but I truly believe there is a lot more to us than most of us realize. I wrote about another very strange and wonderful thing that happened to me a while back. It's how I met a very special friend of mine through an e-mail mistake. She is one of my best friends and it's a really neat story. You can click here if you want to read it.

So, now I know what I am going to do to revamp FourDog , and I am still planning to let the jewelry, journals and photo albums expire. That isn't where my interests lie and I want FourDog to look as good as MyOtherShop....I don't know though, maybe if I keep thinking about them, they'll all sell before they have a chance to expire!

Hi Ho Hi Ho It's To The Doctor I Go

Went to my Internist for my annual check up on Monday. I've only been to this Doctor three times. I don't get sick very often and certainly not sick enough to go to the doctor. I started going to this one when I got tired of arguing with my doctor of 25 years over things like tetanus shots, flu shots and medication. This doctor at least listens to me, does not get combative and much to my amusement, actually agrees with me occasionally.

When she told me I was due for my tetanus booster, I told her I would pass. She asked why and I told her. I think it's unnecessary. She said that the health department is having them add pertussis to the tetanus because of the whooping cough that is going around. Are you kidding me??? Stop this insanity! A few kids get whooping cough therefore every person should get inoculated for it?? Stop flooding our bodies with stuff and let it do what it was meant to do.

The doctor actually laughed which was a good sign. She said when she was in Germany years ago...where they don't immunize for every little illness, kids got whooping cough. She said they would get a bad cough, be sick, get treated if necessary and get well. So is there really a need to "prevent" illnesses that aren't life threatening. I'm not sure.

Our bodies are amazing machines, capable of healing themselves in many cases if given the chance. If we prevent every non-life threatening illness, what happens when we really need our body to fight off something? Will it remember how?

Now before anyone starts yelling at me....I am very grateful that we have some of the drugs we have. They save lives. I do believe there is a time and place for drugs, and I've blogged about this before so I won't so off on it again today.

Anyway, my doctor visit was good. I went over the results of some blood work I had done at my chiropractor's office. I am almost deficient in the very important Vitamin D, so wants me to take a supplement for that. I also asked her how she feels about fish oils. I am a vegetarian and I don't eat fish, so I worry about whether I get enough in my diet. She recommended taking flax seed oil instead of fish oil. She said she is seeing more and more people with high levels of mercury in their systems because of the fish they eat and the fish oil they take as a supplement. She said that since supplements aren't regulated, companies can say that their brand doesn't contain mercury, but you have no way of knowing if it does.

The other thing we discussed was the blood pressure medication she has me on. I want off, but I still don't have my blood pressure under control. If I eat a lot of salt over a period of time, my blood pressure goes up. It's really strange because my daughter's does the same thing. So right now it's higher than it should be thanks to the cheese and pizzas and chips I've been consuming since the holidays arrived. If the meds are supposed to control it though...how come they aren't? Or if I wasn't on them would it be sky high?

Once I get it down to normal and it stays there for a good 6 months, I will ask to go off of it and see what happens. I don't think I need it...the doctors all disagree. The other thing is that the medication I am on helps the heart, and mine gave me a bit of a scare about 18 months ago when it went into a-fib (atrial fibrillation) three times in 6 months. That is where your heart feels like it is flopping around in your chest. It isn't the issue where it races or skips a beat....it's different than that. I had tons of tests and my heart is fine, but this medication....she says.....is what is keeping that from happening. Hmmmmm....how do we know that if I never go off of the meds???

I argued long and hard against the medication and in the end I finally gave in. I had them put me on a very old medication because I do not want to be on anything new. They don't test drugs long enough or well enough in my opinion and I prefer to not be a human guinea pig.

She also wants me to go for another bone density test since I haven't had one for a while. I just hope it's okay because I am not taking Boniva or that other drug and I'm especially not having the new super duper annual IV to help my bones!

So, here is what I need to do. I need to get my rear outside and start walking again. I seem to have fallen off the wagon with the frigid weather we've been having. I need to be more consistent with my pilates and yoga, or at least do some exercises of some kind every day. I need to continue to avoid the foods I am not supposed to be eating on my food sensitivity diet...I'm doing good except for the darn wheat and potato...I love pizza and I love fries and I enjoy having them once a week.

I need to stock up on the supplements I should be taking and maybe, just maybe I won't have to see the doctor for another year!!

A Day To Remember

I was so excited this morning. I got to work and immediately went to the CNN site to bring up the live feed of the Inauguration activities, then I started to work. More often than not I would find myself glued to the little live feed that I kept open in the bottom corner of my monitor. Suddenly I would realize that I was watching and not working, and I would get back to work...until the next time I caught myself. I felt a little guilty, but I couldn't keep my mind on work.

The guilt quickly disappeared when our tech department put out an e-mail giving us 6 different options of live feeds to watch!

When the actual Inauguration started I headed into my boss's office and a group of us sat and watched the entire thing on t.v. I was really glad that I was able to see it.

Even though I totally understand the significance of President Obama being the first black President and I think it's wonderful....but I really don't care what color my President's skin is. What I do care about is that we have a President that people seem to gravitate toward. They listen to him and have such hope in this man. I loved seeing our country come together...united as one today. I hope it lasts. I truly believe President Obama will represent all people, and right now I think that is what we need.

When I vote, I don't vote for a "party", I vote for a person. I think many people did the same thing this election. It doesn't even matter who you voted for anymore...what matters is that this man is the new leader of this country and we need to support him. I am hopeful that what I saw in this man during the entire process is what I will continue to see for years to come. A confident man that will not tolerate people whining, a man that is not afraid to tell people to get up off their rears and do something for someone else, help one another. Government can't fix everything that is wrong with our country and our economy. There is no magic wand. Each of us needs to look within and then reach out to those in need...and there are a lot of people in need right now.

I have decided to take his advice. I will start looking for somewhere that I can give of myself for the good of others. When I make my decision, I'll share it with you.

Wedding 1972 style

Okay, I admit it. I have "wedding on the brain" right now. Tresa e-mailed me their vows and I sat at my computer crying as I read them. Are you kidding me? If I am crying sitting all by myself in my workshop in front of my computer in my sweats and t-shirt...can you tell me what I am going to do when my little girl and her wonderful guy are reciting those vows at the wedding?

Are you married? What kind of wedding did you have? If you aren't married yet, what kind of wedding would you like if you do get married?

Irv and I got married in 1972. We were 20 years old. I'm not sure how I would have felt if any of my kids had said they were getting married at the age of 20, but things were a little different back in my day. Most of the girls didn't go to college. We got jobs, lived at home, got married and started our families. It was definitely the right thing for me. It was all I ever wanted. I came from a fairly large family where there were always kids around. I loved kids and I couldn't wait to have my own.

Our wedding was at the beautiful Catholic church in town. I converted to Irv's faith since I really didn't practice one of my own. It required classes. We also had to take classes to make sure we knew what married life would be like and what was expected of us by the church...and that was to be good Catholics and to have lots of little baby Catholics. (I feel a religion blog coming on...maybe tomorrow)

Our wedding was the traditional Catholic church wedding with mass. We had a pretty good sized bridal party and wow the girls had the greatest dresses and hats! Yes, hats!!! I found the dresses in a bridal magazine and had to call the company to find out where we could get them. I thought that was so cool.

My dress.....very virginal. Every square inch of my tiny little body was covered with fabric, from half way up my neck, down to my fingertips and down to my toes! I had a long veil and felt like a Princess....a very covered Princess. The dress was definitely me!

The girl's dresses covered them as well. It was a good thing I had selected empire waist dresses for them because both of my sister's were pregnant for my wedding. One was almost 5 months and the other was a very large 6 months! My sister-in-law that was not in the wedding was also 6 months pregnant. Talk about a fertile family!

We thought our reception was just the best. It was at this remodeled barn that belonged to the Knights of Columbus. We ate dinner downstairs...yummy family style with chicken and beef, mashed potatoes, some kind of vegetable, a salad and rolls. Hey, it was 1972 and that was the popular option at that time. We could have selected a buffet! Our cake was beautiful including the lovely plastic "topper"!

After dinner we went upstairs for dancing. Yes, we did the traditional tossing of the bouquet and garter, but we also had to do this thing where I wore this little satin apron that one of Irv's little Polish Aunts made. It had all these little tiny plastic babies hanging from it and a pocket. Men paid to dance with me and the money went in the little apron. Not sure of the significance of the babies, but it must have had something to do with keeping the family name going! With money and babies, what more would we need! HA!

Besides the fact that it was the hottest day of the year and the air conditioning went out for a while, it was a nice wedding with lots of family and friends. It started us on our way to what is now a 36 year marriage.

I'm sure I will continue to have "wedding on the brain" until after the wedding, so please bear with me. Just wait until Tresa or Bernadette gets pregnant and I have "baby on the brain"!

No Wedding Should Be Without a Little Dave Matthews

When my son Michael was in high school he introduced me to the music of Dave Matthews. I have always enjoyed music and I can listen to just about anything....except country music. It didn't take long, and I was a big Dave Matthews fan. Dave's voice is kind of gritty and gravely at times and I love that. Michael started burning me every CD he had and before I knew it I was hooked...big time. I listened to nothing but Dave and was happy doing so.

Michael got Irv and I tickets to a concert that he and his friends were going to at Alpine Valley which is a little bit over the border in Wisconsin. He and his friends were camping up there and had lawn seats and he got pavilion seats for us. I remember thinking how great it was going to be in the pavilion, just sitting and listening to Dave sing his little heart out. We would actually be close enough to see him! Well, we were close enough to see him, but sit??? Not a chance. The second he came out on stage every person in the pavilion stood up and remained standing for the entire concert! In fact, everyone kind of squished to the front and center, so you really didn't know where your seats were anyway. So, it was either stand or not see! As you can tell, it had been a very long time since I had been to a concert! I really loved it anyway and had no problem standing for the entire concert, especially when he sang my two favorite songs at the time in the first half hour! Woo hoo!

When Michael got married three years ago, Dave had recently released an album and one of the songs was called "Steady As We Go". It was a beautiful love song, and Michael and Bernadette chose it for their first dance. The words are just amazing and to this day, I cannot listen to that song without getting tears in my eyes. Click on the first picture of Dave for a video of Dave singing "Steady As We Go." Just use your back button to come back to the blog when it's done.

Well, Tresa e-mailed me this week and asked me what I thought of the lyrics to another Dave song called, "Loving Wings", that they plan to use as one of the readings during their ceremony. They aren't having a church wedding so they can have whatever kind of readings they want.

I wasn't familiar with the song, so I immediately hit the internet to find it. You can click on the second picture of Dave if you want to hear it. It's another great love song and the lyrics will make a wonderful reading. I told Tresa that maybe Dave could come and sing it for her, and she suggested Matthew, our youngest son see if he could arrange that.

Of course, she was joking, but Matt was in Hawaii this past summer for a benefit concert that Dave was performing at, and he ended up staying in the same hotel as Dave and his family. He met Dave and got to talk to him and got a picture taken with him. He also met Dave's wife and played with his twins. I was so very jealous...but then being the shy girl that I am, I could never meet him in person. I would have no idea what to say...."Uh, Hi Dave. I love your music." Matt said he was a bit star struck, but Matt can talk to anyone about anything...he did not inherit my shy gene for sure.

So, anyway, if you are a Dave fan...good for you...because he has some great music. If you've never heard the Dave Matthews Band, get on the internet and search for some live recordings and take a listen. The two love songs are beautiful, but that isn't what all of his music sounds like.

Do you enjoy music? Is it part of every day for you? What do you like? Please share...I am always open to listening to something new!