New Pointe Shoes

Chelsea got her pointe shoes today. She is so tickled. She can't wait to get on them. She's so excited. We went down for the dance teacher to show her how to sew her ribbons on today. She's got one shoe done and we'll go tomorrow to do the other one. She has to check to be sure she's done it right before she does the other one. She was beaming while she was being fitted. And usually this takes a really long time to get them fitted. We lucked out today. The first pair that she put on not only fit, but felt good and didn't pinch or bind anywhere. The lady at the store said that never happens.
She's such a contradiciton. Here are the pictures she took last night...

And then here she is today...getting her new pointe shoes. She was so excited about her funky new outfit and pink converse that she got yesterday and then today she's excited about her very girly pink pointe shoes.

She's still a girlie girl even if she does cover it up with pink hair dye and rocker sweatshirts.

Myrena is doing really well. I think she's lost a little weight this summer. I don't weigh her as I don't want her being self conscious at such a young age, but we do talk to her about eating healthy and keeping active. She does a good job of that. She's very active. Sometimes I don't see how she could carry any extra weight at all. She's the farthest thing from lazy. She's always moving, swimming, riding her bike, roller blading, or just playing with her friends. She's almost never sitting still. I hate to think that she's going to struggle her whole life with her weight, but then, it's how God has made her and he makes no mistakes.

She does want to play Lacrosse this year. If we can find her a team to play on we'll make that happen. She wants to dance also. She's so funny, she's worried about whether we can pay for her to do both. We told her not to worry, that she could do both and we'd be just fine. If she can't play lacrosse she wants to play soccer. I'm sure we can find a soccer team for her to play on. The Rec has one I'm sure.

We went camping for Chelsea's birthday. She had a great time. We rented two sites so the girls would have their own site. She invited two friends from school. They were very well behaved and had a lot of fun. We were playing around with some pictures. Here's what we did...

That's Chelsea she's holding...

Giving Allison a kiss

Myrena is going to squish them like bugs.

Chelsea in Ashley's hand. She's hard to see but it's easier when it's bigger. It's very cool. I think if you click on the picture it will make it bigger. I had fun with these and so did the girls.

Soooooooooooooooo, I guess it's time to go to bed. I'm tired and I've got a busy day tomorrow.

Quite Literally crying laughing!!!

Okay, so my daughter has a facebook and I opened one for myself because she begged me to. I watch hers but I have her password, so I didn't really need to have one of my own...but...she asked. So, there was this IQ test thinger on there and I took the test. OMG! I'm laughing so hard I can barely type! This is what it said...



Your score: 150
Top 5% of Population
People that score in this range are genius or near genius.


Roflmaoooooooo!
And, there is no freakin' way! This thing is rigged! roflmao Of course, maybe it isn't. It did say Tom Cruise's IQ was 98. That sounds about right. Heh!

My website

I've been working on updating the family website. I try to use that to keep in touch with my family. I added a media page today. I need to fix a couple of things on the youtube vids. I had a hard time embedding the videos so I took the easy way out and uploaded them to youtube. *shrug* I'm getting lazy and just didn't want to work through the html any longer.

Watching Big Brother tonight. My favorite guilty pleasure. I know it's trash t.v. but I have to watch it.

So, the doctor put me on medicine again for the swelling but he increased it to twice a day. After a week I have to get some bloodwork done and see if it's improving and maybe see if any levels will tell anything. I don't look for that to provide any answers. But, it's a start. The swelling has improved and my feet and legs are about half the size they were. That's pretty good because they were huge.

We had a busy weekend. On Saturday we cleaned the dungeon. The laundry room you will remember (if you read the picture tag post) was so bad your couldn't even walk through it. So, we pulled Mark's trailer up in front of the house and we emptied the basement and only took back what we could justify. We also got a bunch of clear totes to separate things into and put them onto the shelves. It looks 100% better down there. In fact, it's a little strange because I'm not used to it being that clean. I love it. We scrubbed the floor too! It's a complete turn around.

So, I guess I should take a new photo.

I'm distracted and I think I should write this later. Ha ha.

If you want to check out the new updated pages go here .

Blow Fish Syndrome

I go to the dr. today to find out why I look like a blowfish. My feet and legs are swelled to unnatural sizes lately and I can't figure it out. The Lasix is not working. Each night when I sleep they recover a bit, but never as much as the increase in swelling from the day before. So, I'm just getting bigger. Today is an all time "huge".

There has to be a reason for all of this. It can't be "cyclic edema" there is just no way. I'm 38 years old and have swelling worse than my 78 year old grandmother. When old ladies look at my legs and gasp, there a problem. You know, there used to seeing it, it happens all the time for my grandma, it's a usual occurrence, but not in a 38 year old.

I had tests and tests and tests done about a year and a half ago when this all first started. No, two and a half years ago. It started in February of '06. Just suddenly, I swelled up one day to a strange size. And then it went down a bit, and then got bigger, and then went down a bit....etc. They tested everything. My heart first; the worry was congestive heart failure. Wasn't that. Next it was my thyroid they checked. Nope. My kidneys? Off to a specialist for more tests. Nope, not that either. Not my liver or my pancreas either. I discovered through all this, that I'm incredibly healthy. Well, except for the really ugly blow fish feet. I just kept moving forward and finally resigned myself that it was just a fluke thing and I'd just live with it. The medicine worked when it flared up and I'd just take that when I needed to.

I went on a diet and started losing weight. I lost 42 pounds in six months. I hit a plateau. But the swelling had gone away. I was so excited. I thougth I'd found out what it had been. It was the weight. Had to be. Yay me! Right?

Wrong! It came back this past February. And it's worse.

So, I'm off to the doctor today to find out why once and for all. I've got my list of "symptoms" (related or not I don't know, but it's a list nonetheless.) and my big huge feet. He's going to have to do better than "cyclic edema". Mark's worried that it's my heart. I don't know. It might be I guess.

I just don't know. But I hope they can find out. I can't wear any of my shoes. And that's not good. LOL

I got tagged!

**note, no matter how much formatting and html I add to this thing, it just won't do what I want. It puts spaces where they shouldn't be and won't let me delete them. So it looks like a kindergartner formatted it, and honestly maybe that's who programmed the dang thing for blogger, but this is the best it would let me do. stepping off my pedestal now**

So Aleisha tagged me. Thank God she's the only one that reads this blog! LOL I wasn't allowed to clean anything before I took the pictures. You'll see that I certainly did NOT clean anything before I took the pictures. Argh. I need to go clean my house now.

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1. Dream Vacation

That would have to be Australia! I'd love to go there and this is why.

This is Byron Bay! Gorgeous!

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2. Self Portrait

Blargh! I look horrible. LOL And what is up with my mile high forehead? Has it always been that big? Geez. Is there surgery to correct that? I suppose not.

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3. What the kids are doing right now...

This is what Aaron is always diong. Well, most of the time. He has time limits and when he isn't doing this, on his off time, he's reading. His desk is a mess. I need to mention that to him. The rest of his room is amazingly clean for a boy though. I mean, seriously, I should have taken a picture of that. His bed is even made. LOL He jumped a mile out of his seat when the camera flashed. He didn't know I was taking a picture and I scared the bejeezers out of him.

Chelsea was watching music videos. I told her about when I was her age MTV had just come on the air and it was all music videos and music news. That's it. She was shocked and said she wished it were like that now. She loves watching videos.

Myrena and Sara are playing Bratz. They have such fun with these dolls and they always clean it all up when they're done. They do a good job down there. Our playroom is in the basement. I wish I had more room to give them to play, but that's what we have. They don't seem to mind much.

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4. Closet

Blech! I hate my closet. They are too small and not enough of them. I'll show you my bedroom closet, but I warn you, I keep the curtain closed for a reason.

We have to have a curtain on it (not really even a curtain, it's a sheet and a tension rod) because we had to take the door off since the bedroom is so small and our bed is so big. But I love our bed and would never part with it. Notice the garment bags....they're full of dance costumes from recital. I haven't put them away properly yet. I'll deal with that when I need the garment bags for new costumes. LOL!

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5. Favorite Room

(photo coming...I'm upstairs and forgot about this one when I was running around taking pics...)

Hmmm, that would have to be....I don't know. Right now I don't really have a favorite room. I guess my dining room since we just painted it and it looks all nice now. I have to get something on the walls for decoration but I'm just no good at that.

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6. Favorite shoes

(I forgot about this one too. I'll get a picture and put it in here...)

Any that fit right now. My feet and legs are swelled to unnatural size and I can't put my feet into anything but my ratty camping shoes. The sneaks with no backs!

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7. Laundry room....Leish, you cannot even complain about your laundry room! This one takes the cake I'm sure. It's a crazy mess down there and at the moment, Mark was working on the freezer so it was doubly a mess.

Geez there is crap everywhere! Argh! This weekend coming we are pulling the trailer up out front and emptying most of what is in this dungeon into it to go to the trash heap. It's a horrible mess. I know I should freecycle it but honestly, I just need it gone. I do love my washer and dryer though.

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8. Bathroom.

I do like my bathroom. It's small but we just remodeled it and I love the colors we chose and the way everything came out. It's a mess right now. Proof that I didn't clean anything before I took the picture.

It's really tiny...I mean...really!

Okay, the toilet paper is supposed to be under the sink and the rolls we are saving for Kids and Cultures. They're doing a craft at their camp and they need over 200 of them. I don't think we'll be able to provide them all, but we'll do our part to help out! *grin*

I just love our new sink. It's my favorite part of the whole new room. Of course right now it's covered in things that shouldn't be there, but hey, what do you expect with three kids, two of which are teenagers? Do you like the bead board (is it called wainscoting?) it was a pain in the butt to paint but I love the way it turned out. I love the color too. Mark frowned at me when I picked it, but he liked it too when it was on the walls.

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9. Sink!

OMG, I can't believe I took this picture. I do the dishes after dinner, and we haven't had dinner yet. Sooooooo, there are still dishes sitting there. Argh! As you can see from my ancient sink, we haven't yet remodeled the kitchen. It's on the list, but it still needs sooooo much work we need to save some money for it first.

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9. Refrigerator

Hmmm, what do you say about this. It's a fridge. AT least there isn't anything moldy.

I don't know anyone that blogs so I can't tag anyone, but hey, it was fun! Thanks loads Leish for making me aware of just how dirty my house really is! LOL Love ya! Loads! Really! I swear! No, really! Loads! *grin* *wink*

I love camping!!!

Someone asked me today what my normal day looks like when I'm camping. So, I went about sharing with her my day, and boy did I ever feel lazy, and pampered. My husband babies me way too much. I really love camping and I think I realized why when I told all about my days!

Anyway, we went camping last weekend at Splash Magic in North Umberland. We really love it up there. There is loads for the kids to do. They never stop going. In fact, sometimes Myrena gets so worn out that we have to make her come into the camper and relax for a bit. She'll get so grumpy and cranky but she doesn't want to stop. She might miss something I guess.

When we got there we always get the kids activity passes. They are good for mini golf, bumper boats, paddle boats and bike rentals. There is also a pool there that is just fantastic. And they have constant organized activities. It's one of our favorite places to go. (Leish, you so need to go there!)

I'll add some pictures when I'm not too lazy to resize them all. Blargh!

I've got to work on my website. It's so outdated. I think I'm going to take the whole thing down and redo it. And I might just start today! LOL Why not, I've got nothing better to do until Big Brother comes on at 8:00! My favorite show next to Survivor!

Oh, and I'm reading an excellent book. It's called "A World Without End" and for the life of me I can't remember the author. Shoot. It's the book after "The Pillars Of The Earth". Ken Follet! There, I knew I'd remember it. Both books are really good and out of the norm for me, but I really am enjoying them. It's even too hard to describe what they're about. But they're so interesting. I love reading about how people did things before there were all the handy things we have now to make work so much easier. The books are quite addicting.

I haven't finished my second Market bag yet. I don't like the way the handles are supposed to work so I took them off and I'm trying something different. It probably wont' work and I'll have some more useless bags laying around but whatever. I think I might make something felted for a change. Maybe this pattern, but felted would be good. Yeah! That's what I'll do. Did I already mention that somewhere? Probably. So like me to come up with an old idea and think it's great only to realize I've thought of it before and thought it was great then too.

I'm rambling.

I should go take that website down. Yup! Think I just might do that.

Later!

Better Late Than Never...

Happy Fourth of July.



Pictures taken at Lititz Springs Park fireworks display and Long's Park fireworks display. Enjoy.

Myrena's birthday party

She had a blast. It wasn't so bad for me either. I just kept cleaning up the mess and putting out a new activity. I've got some fun pictures. The kids were so silly but not misbehaved at all. It was a good group of girls. It was kind of funny to see that they were all little dancers. Julian doesn't dance anymore, but she used to.

First they swam out back in the pool.

Then they came in and wanted to do a craft. I had little tote bags for them to decorate with paints and some other stuff. They had fun with those. Julia wasn't there yet. She had a wedding to go to so she was a little late.

Then we had cake. I guess I should have a put a cute pic of her cake on here, but this one was funnier. LOL

Nice cake Myrena!

They sure had fun with these glow sticks and I had fun taking pictures of them. ha ha ha

Then it was out to the pool with the glow sticks.

Playing Rock Band on the Wii until the wee hours of the morning. Good thing our neighbors weren't home that night.

After all this they played hide and seek in the house, in the dark. They had on glow sticks so it wasn't too hard for them to find one another. They had a blast though adn Mark and I just stayed in the office out of the way. They only came to us to ask permission to do something. Finally at three a.m. I told them that the old people were going to bed and they were restricted to being in the livingroom, diningroom and kitchen area. They put in a movie and settled down...well, some of them settled down. Most were asleep pretty quickly but others were up all night.

Mark and I got up around ten the next morning and they were already up and wanting to get in the pool. So they did and Mark made breakfast.

Yummy! Pancakes and sausage.

All in all I think they had a great time and Myrena loved her party. She felt all grown up having a party that the adults weren't allowed to attend. After all, she is a double digit now! *grin*

More Fireworks

Just some photos in this one...more playing...yep...that's all I got...

Fireworks

I got a new camera recently and got the opportunity to do something fun with it last night. The fireworks in Lititz were really neat and I had some fun with my camera. I did learn that I need a remote control for it. It's had to hold your arm up there pushing that button when the camera is on a tripod to keep it from being shaken. So, after much playing here are my best shots. There are a lot of them and I finally remembered to resize them before uploading. Doh!