Lucky with health care....(sick child)

OK, with Hubby in the military, we have it pretty good with health care. As in pretty much free for everything necessary and some co-pays for non-necessary..but that doesn't mean that my child is not sick!
This past weekend, Cee started REALLY coughing. She has had a tickle in her throat for awhile but this was much worse. She couldn't walk across the store or laugh without hacking up a lung. So Sunday night (early Monday morning), I called the 24 hour nurse advice line and got no good advice. Not that the nurse didn't try, but where am I going to get a humidifier at 1 a.m.? My hubby is away so I should go to Wally World? Take my sick baby (11 yr. old) out? Basically, I wanted to know what meds she could take (that I had available) that would at least get her to sleep without killing her. The nurse was not keen on combining meds (probably a good thing) but to my sleep-deprived mind, I was getting nowhere. She would not give us authorization to go to the ER because it was not an emergency. Cee finally fell asleep because of the Benadryl and I was able to snooze for 2 hours at a time. I kept getting up to check on her. I took her into the doc the next morning and got something that helps and the cough is almost gone.
Then on Tuesday at gymnastics practice, Cee smacked her right arm on the balance beam. She told me about it but since she had continued practicing, I did not think it was that bad. I sent her to school on Wed. and didn't think anything of it. She came home after school and was in pain. So again, I call the nurse line. This time, I want to go to the ER for Xrays. Let's make sure the wrist isn't cracked, etc. Nurse wants to give me home care advice. I want authorization to go, she gives advice. I finally insist on it. She doesn't know my child like I do. My Cee plays HARD. If the wrist is cracked, she'll finish the job and break it somehow. So finally, against the nurse's advice, I take her for xrays and it shows that there is no cracks or breaks. So the nurse was right. But does this mean that I shouldn't have insisted on xrays? Did I over react? The ER wrapped her wrist and now it feels better. Is this a placebo effect or was the wrapping necessary. I ask all of this because I am not objective. When my child is hurt or sick, I can't be. Maybe I am too close to the subject but when she cries (for real), my heart literally hurts. Let me hear your honest opinions on this one...

More pics from the Halloween party.....

Here is Cee (the Goth Mummy) with her friends, The Black & White Fairy and Lola, from Hannah Montana...


Cee wins a musical chairs! Don't get in her way! She gets this from me. :)
Playing in the fog from outside.

The girls had fun at the party, mostly because of unlimited candy and I let them hang out outside. They thought they were very grownup but they were not visible from the street so I didn't think there was much danger. The door was cracked open, and someone checked on them more often than they realized. Cee's friends are also very sensible and so is Cee.
I even went to the Megan's Law website for around here to check for offenders near my friend's house. (I did this when I bought my house also.)

Kitty Litter Cake, anyone?

Saturday was our Halloween party. I know that it was a little bit early but we needed to schedule it around custody issues with another friend! On the menu from our house, Kitty Litter Cake, Boiled Eyeballs and Chocolate Covered Worms. From other sources, Dirty Dishwater, Mummy Dogs and Witch's Hands.
Here are some pics...........
Gothic Mummy Bride

The invitation

Chocolate covered worms

Eyeballs

Kitty Litter Cake...


I think the adults had more fun cooking and planning than anything else. We had a great time and made a huge mess.....


****Edited***** I used red gel decorator's icing and a paint brush to make the eyeballs look bloodshot. Check out this site...
http://www.all-about-halloween.com for all the recipes I used.

Its Official

This morning, I felt like Garfield on the scales. I have officially gained 10 pounds since coming back to the states at the end of June. In celebration of that, I have decided to lose those 10 pounds and 43 more! I added a ticker to the right side and think public humiliation might motivate me more that all the clothes that don't fit!
So I solemnly vow to stop eating out of boredom, start eating more protein, drink water, not drink soda or lemonade, and eat more veggies!
I will also list everything I have eaten in the last day....Just because I know no one will care!!!!!

Where's the cable?

So this weekend, some friends came over to help me put my craft room together and I actually remembered to take some pictures of the before and during (the after hasn't happened yet)and then I can't find the cable to download the pics to the computer!!!!
Actually, they came to help with the craft room because I bribed them with access to all my paper and tools. We ended up setting a table in the living room and making invites to a Halloween party that is coming up. It now looks like a paper shredder exploded in the living room. You will have to imagine it until the cable shows up......
I finally gave up and just bought a costume at Evil Wal-Mart. I couldn't think of anything good that I could make up. Cee is going as a Gothic mummy? At least that is what she is calling it now.....
Max is going at Count Maxula and I have a good picture of that too!!!!!!!! This whole move thing is so frustrating when I can't find something.....

Project Runway fans....

OK, so who watches Project Runway on Bravo? I have been a faithful follower of the show this season and I just watched the finale and I am pissed!!!!!! I wanted Kenley to win. I thought that her clothes were actually wearable and beautiful. I definitely did not think that Leanne clothes had enough variety to them. She used just a few colors and when she kept saying that waves were her inspiration, I think she was color blind!!! There are way more colors to the ocean than what she just showed! The sunlight on the water creates more than that!!! I think I just like the underdog attitude of Kenley and I thought Korto's line was beautiful also....
Let me know what you think!!!!!

VOTE

This morning I went to training to be an election official for the upcoming general election. Thank goodness I will only be a clerk and there will be 2 others there to make things run smoothly. I don't know how many are in the precinct I am working at but they are expecting at least a 60% turnout. It will be a long and busy day but worth it in the end. I will say that I volunteered for this job but am glad that I getting paid......
All of this brought about a serious political conversation with my hubby over dinner at the local restaurant. Many couples might be able to say straight out who they are going to vote for but we were both very careful to talk without saying who exactly we each will vote for but it was insightful to find out that what I consider to be major issues, he doesn't see that way. He was concerned about things I didn't know mattered. I still haven't decided. Because I will be working that day, I will actually vote by absentee 3 days before....
So, if you decide to comment, please don't say who you want to win but tell me what you consider to be the most important issue in this election. I will come out and say that I think the war and how it is resolved is most important to me....

Making and breaking habits.

Someone once told me that it takes a week to make a habit and two weeks to break it. I think that is what happened to me! I was blogging along and enjoying it and then when the internet fiasco happened, I was gone so long that I broke the habit of blogging. Now I am trying to get back in the swing of things and I am determined to blog everyday, regardless of whether I actually have anything to say!
I am ashamed to say that nothing of great interest is going on right now. The hubby is asleep (I think I wore him out) and Max (the Maltese) has just fallen asleep beside me on the couch. I know he is asleep because he has just done what all males do when they sleep...... He farted.
Its raining outside (hard) and gloomy inside. The house looked fab when hubby came home on Thursday but now looks like it threw up on itself again! We painted our bedroom Sunday and yesterday and it looks fabulous but everything else went out... No laundry, dishes, etc..... Today's job is to clean out the craft room so I can make it into a craft room. Cee and I had been sleeping in there while we worked on the main part of the house and when we moved, we left a bunch of stuff behind. Most of it will stay there but I need some order in my life! I'm OCD like that.... I will snap some pics of the before and after so y'all can be jealous of my own personal space!

Some observations on women and home improvement....

I have been working on this house for almost 5 weeks in between all the other things that women do in the course of a normal day and I have noticed something. Men (and women) who work at hardware stores think that women are stupid and incapable. I think I know why....
Women ask questions. They want to know everything there is to know about a project before they start it. Men come into a store and ask one question, assume the rest, go home, screw it up and then come back, ask one question, repeat the process until they finally finish the project.
Since it is usually men that work in these places, they are not used to a women asking a multitude of questions, just in case. I think this gives the impression that women are incapable.
Case in point...
I decided that I wanted all new plug and switch plates in the rooms that I had just painted. I went to the local hardware store and I was looking at them and I thought, "If I put these on, it will just make the actual plugs and switches look even worse." So I decided that I wanted to change out the plugs and switches also. I did not know how to do this (BTW it is extremely easy, if you ask enough questions) but I figured that I could learn. I proceed to ask a bunch of questions. I figured, with a woman helping me, she would think that I am competent. Apparently not. She actually asked me for my phone number because she thought her husband should come over and do it, "Just in case." I thought I was going to scream!!!!!!!!! Just in case what? I knew how to turn the power off, I wasn't going to electrocute myself. If I had wanted someone to do this for me, I would have hired a handyman.
In the end, I replaced them all and I taught my 11 yr old daughter how to do it also!!!! Just goes to show that anything boys can do, I can do better!!!!!

http://www.funny2.com/menandwomen.htm

I'm baaaaaaaaaack! and so is the hubby!

Again, I'm back. I had internet installed way back on September 30th and that was the last day it worked with any regularity. I had to throw the biggest hissy fit known to man to get someone out to fix it. Now it works wonderfully but why did I have to do this in the first place? Good thing I am really awesome at throwing a fit!!!
The hubby is also back. He came in on Thursday, a day earlier than expected. I was frantic trying to get the house ready but I don't think he noticed the things stuffed in the cupboards so the house would look neat. He loved the house, good thing because Oklahoma is a community property state and I own half. I would have kicked him to the curb if he didn't like it!