Happy Thanksgiving 2008

A big happy Thanksgiving to all of you out there. I hope you all have a great turkey day with lots of food, fun, and family and/or friends. We are hosting this year, my brother and his family are coming and we'll have a few friends over too. I hope the food all turns out good.

We've been talking a lot about thankfulness and gratitude lately. We are very blessed, and
we are trying to remember that. It is so easy for me to get caught in the "I need this, and that is so important" attitude. There are so many things to be grateful for.
Our Savior and His atonement for us.
Ryan finding a job and being able to work right now.
Our family
Our house.
Our food.
Our health.
Our friends.
The list continues and is never ending. We are truly blessed.
Have a great day and get your route mapped out for Black Friday. What time are you heading out?

How low can you go?

I was So excited today when I went out to run errands and I passed the gas station. Today it is $1.59. $1.59! Can you believe it? We filled up our tank (we were at 1/4 tank), and it only cost $22.00. We'll take that.
What are your gas prices these days?

My ever helpful little girl

My fingernails always peel and crack. It gets really annoying because then when I go to grab something they snag, and peel back more etc. So the other night, a nail snagged and I was trying to "smooth" it with my teeth until I could get to a pair of fingernail clippers. When Livvy saw me put my finger to my mouth she yelled, "No, I see it, I see it." So I dutifully wait until she can come over and "see" it. She grabs my finger and looks at the ripped part of the nail, and then pulls my finger toward her mouth and proceeded to try bite my nail off for me. Call me crazy, but toddler teeth and my fingers aren't exactly a perfect combination in my book, and so I snatched my hand out of her mouth. I thanked her for her concern and went and found fingernail clippers. Funny little girl.

Allergy Testing

Yesterday Luke went to the Allergist to be tested for allergies. He has been on Zyrtec since before he was 2. Whenever I've taken him off of it, he's always had really bad problems with his allergies, so we figured there was probably something going on with this. Especially because when he had his x-rays done on his adenoids they came back normal. So his ENT thought it was allergies that were the problem. (This is after of course she said she was sure it was adenoids and allergies that were the problem and prepped me to thinking that he would be going into surgery).
Well, they did the 20 point scratch test on Luke's back yesterday, and nothing. NOTHING, no reaction whatsoever. I was so surprised. The doctor then told me that even though he didn't react to those, that it didn't mean he didn't have allergies, and they wanted to test him by injecting just a little serum stuff just under his skin. Luke was very upset about that. They tested him for 2 things that way, dust mites and dog. After a minute or so, the doctor came back in to tell us about Nasonex, and he said, "Oh, he's already positive for dogs." Luke had a pretty definite reaction to dogs. We didn't test him for cats, which is because he has so little exposure to cats.
The reason why I mention that, is because we've had times when we haven't had a dog, and he's still had bad allergies. At one of those times, we did have a cat, so maybe that's why he was still having problems. I don't know. I do know that I feel bad, that our choice, parent's and child's choice was to have a dog. Luke loves dogs. He is very sad when we don't have a dog, but I think we are becoming a dog free family. We were told ways to help a person with allergies when there is a family dog, like no pets in the bedroom, (check, the dog's never been allowed upstairs), a new pillow every year encased in a allergy pillow cover, sheets washed once a week in hot water, clothes folded upstairs where dog isn't allowed, all carpet ripped up and hardwood throughout, (can we get a prescription for that?), and some other things. Whenever he's sat where the dog's been he would be considered contaminated.
We've been preparing for this, but I guess we need to decide soon what we do with our Cali. She is a really good dog. This is where we start looking for a good home for a Corgi. Anyone want a well behaved, trained dog? She's 3 years old, great with kids, mellow, loves to play, and loves to snuggle at your feet.
After we treat this, then we see the ENT again if there are any further question about the adenoids. Hopefully this treatment will take care of his symptoms. They aren't going to start the shots, they've started him on Nasonex, and we follow up in a month.

By the way, he was negative for dust mites.

The Job

Molly, you are so right, and knew what the next post would be about. Ryan was in your neck of the woods last week in Chicago/Naperville (if I spelled that right) area for training. He LOVED it. Ryan is so excited about this new job and all the possibilities. He brought home a power wheelchair, and a standard wheelchair. I need to take and post a picture, I'll try to do that tomorrow, of the kids sitting in the chair. Next week will be Ryan's first week in his area. Hopefully things will be off to a good start.
We are so blessed to have this opportunity, and so thankful again to all our friends and family who networked, prayed for us, helped us on resumes and supported us emotionally to get through. Thank you again.

The stink is history

Wahoo, it worked.
Thanks Carrie for the great idea. I soaked my stinky towels in OxyClean, I put them in at 11:00 PM on Monday night, and then I pulled them out Wednesday morning at 9:00 AM and washed them (with a different laundry detergent left by our phantom), and I think the smell is gone.
I have used 2 different towels that had the stink since then, and have not noticed the odor at all. So it appears that soaking in OxyClean may have solved the problem.
Thanks to all of you who suggested things to do.

Don't Forget to Vote

Fall Fun

What a GOOD boy! I love this picture of Luke.

And here is the cute boy helping out so he can jump!

Jumping out of the swing.

Look at me!

Today when Luke got off the bus, I tackled him, and threw him over my shoulder. Luke was so surprised he kept asking what I was doing. Ryan was in the backyard blowing the leaves into a pile. Luke still couldn't see what was going on, and I threw him in the pile of leaves. He was so excited. He ran to the shed to grab a rake to help out. We placed the leaves in front of the swing and he would swing and jump into the leaves. Luke was in heaven. He has been so jealous of other peoples homes that have tons of leaves in their yards. He played in the leaves for a while.

Tomorrow we'll have to let Livvy play in the leaves. She was napping today.

Pumpkin Fun

I was so on top of it this year, that on Halloween Day I was out running around to see if I could find a place that was still selling pumpkins. Luckily, I found some at Centre Street Market. We only carved the one. While Luke was at school, Ryan and Livvy cleaned out the pumpkin. Livvy seemed to do okay with the pumpkin guts this year. Ewwwwwwwwww.

When Luke came home, he designed and with Ryan's help carved the pumpkin. I thought he did a great job.

Then we ate a quick dinner and got the kids ready to go Trick or Treating. Did I take any pictures? Nope. We did video Halloween this year, but you have to look at the Zoo Boo to see their costumes. They were pretty cute. To refresh your memory, Luke was a Ninja, and Olivia was an Indian.

Luke was having a blast, he was running from house to house. He gets tired of it pretty quickly, and returns home and likes to hand out candy to the other kids. Some of his friends showed up and wanted him to go with them, so we let him go out with his friends a little bit. Ryan was out with him, and he said Luke and his friend's ran like crazy. Ryan and Livvy couldn't keep up with them. When Luke was ready to come home, he couldn't figure out how he got so far from home.

Olivia had fun, she loves candy so what's better than people just handing it out to you?

This year Halloween was warm. I was out with the kids for a while in a short sleeve shirt swatting away mosquitoes. Who'd thought it'd be warm enough for mosquitoes on Halloween?

It was a fun night.

Happy Birthday to Ryan

It's Ryan's Happy Birthday. While we were at the Zoo Boo, Ryan received a call from his new boss. He told Ryan when his new start date was. Ryan was very excited, he said it was the birthday present he could have gotten.

After the Zoo Boo we went to Red Robin for his free Hamburger and Sundae. We had a yummy dinner. Then we came home and ate the cake he had requested. He wanted a Butter Pecan cake with cream cheese frosting.

We love you Ryan, thanks for all you do for our family. You're the best!

Zoo Boo

This goat loved to be petted. He just kept asking for more!

We received some free tickets to the Zoo Boo. We waited for the nicest day that fit within our schedule to go, and it just so happened to be on Ryan's birthday. Happy Birthday Ryan! The kids had fun chasing the poor peacocks around, but were a little sad that most of the animals had been put away for the winter. Livvy kept asking over and over again to see the aminals.

Livvy hadn't let us put her costume on her before this trip to the Zoo. She would push us away whenever we tried to put it on. We told her that if she put it on at the zoo they would give her candy. She wore it the whole time without complaining. She received many compliments on how cute she was.

Luke was a Ninja this year. He was so excited with the trick or treating, he couldn't wait to get to the next station.

It was a fun thing to go to with the free tickets, and the kids did enjoy the candy that they received. I'd do it again if it was free. All in all it was a fun outing with the family.

Help!

Does anyone have any advice for me? I have some towels that must have sat wet for too long. They have a very faint mildew smell. People who know me well, know that I am very smell oriented. I hate the smell of mildew. I have tried bleach to kill the smell, Febreeze for laundry, (I think that made it worse), and vinegar to try to kill the smell. Nothing seems to help. I have already cut up one of the towels to see if I can stomach using it as a rag, but if the towels smell don't change soon, they will be going in the trash. There's not a lot worse than getting out of the shower, and wiping off your face in a stinky towel. Nasty!
Do you have any ideas I can try to salvage these towels? I hate to waste, and I could spend $ on a lot better things than towels right now. Suggestions would be greatly appreciated.