I am now more anemic, and have real swelling. Not the barely there, hardly noticeable kind-more like 'WOW your feet are HUGE!", and yes I had my BP checked, still in the 120s...

So I am under orders to 'rest'...not exactly sure how, but I am trying. after spending most of my adult life trying not to succumb to the lazy do nothing instinct, I am now trying to go back to it..and finding it is harder than I thought.

Yesterday I spent most of the day after church napping or laying on the couch, and today I woke up with almost normal feet! yeah! Of course today my husband had to go to work, so doing nothing is a bit harder...not to mention not fun on my back.

oh well, if it helps it is worth it. now to get off the computer, this kind of sitting isn't good for my feet.

Apparently those wisdom teeth he wanted out 3 years ago are getting worse. But out of pocket cleanings and routine care is one thing, out of pocket extraction in Charlotte is another.

The main problem is that no one wants to do a simple numb and pull. You have to have 'painless' dental care here. some sort of spa treatment to go with the extraction which of course isn't cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I don't enjoy pain, but I really see no reason why pulling a tooth can't be a simple numb and yank. sure it hurts, but so does delivering a baby. Once done a short recovery and problem solved. (and at this point I am MORE than ready to go into labor..except I am busy. Relatives coming from out of town and all)

I woke up at 3 am wondered out and discovered not only did my husband do laundry, he also folded it. And there was a strange feel to the towel in the basket, it sat too high and felt too soft.

Turns out my husband bought and washed up new towels, because the 8th anniversary is 'linens'. I think it is soo cute he looks these things up!

I also find the towels a much more practical gift than typical anniversary presents!

Now I can't wait to take a shower tonight (though I still am not sure the towel will cover this huge belly!)

I was watching a show at 4am this morning about pregnancy (unfortunatly I just couldn't sleep) and they mentioned they typical 'medical leave' time for pregnant women. between 36 and 39 weeks many women get medical leave to take off work.

So when do I get to take off work? mostly kidding, I get to put myself on 'light duty' anytime I want.

But it did bring up a question..don't those women get bored waiting for their first kid? Not that there is nothing to do, just that the weeks before birth the last thing I want is time to wish the kid would hurry up..it wont in all likely hood, and mom is left answering all sorts of 'yes I ams till pregnant' questions. Amazingly enough family who hasn't called in months suddenly has to call at week 40, just in case you forgot to tell them you had the kid.

If you have an older kid at least they distract you from the wonder. And now that I have three, plus more commitments, I really don't have time to wish the kid would hurry up..except at 4am when I can't sleep .

Looking at my upcoming delivery, I realized a few things will be different. More than just the relaxed atmosphere and not having to wake my older kids up.

This is not a medical discussion, just all the non medical points. Medically I live very close to a hospital, and I will be attended by a midwife with medical experience.

1. No 'free' diapers. All three kids came with several packs of the newborn diapers, plus wipes and diaper rash cream. (also no free feminine supplies.)

2. No 'free' diaper bag. Formula companies around here always give diaper bags (with of course ice packs for storing breast milk) and lots of advertisement for formula (beside the scientific info on breast milk)

3. No 'free' clothing or blankets or hats. We will have to supply even the first blanket.

4. No packing..I don't have to pack a bag with toys for older kids, clothes for me, clothes for baby (with a backup in case it is a different gender than expected) No packing a car seat blankets, food for Dad (or mom) and kids...

5. No hospital food (and consequently no cost of running to a nearby restaurant to find decent food)

6. No noisy beds! My last two births I had a room with a noisy bed..honestly I thought it was possessed, soon as you start to drift off the bed would 'puff'. Supposed to be some sort of automatic adjustment to make it more comfortable, I would have preferred less comfort more silence!

7. Instant computer access! I can send my own announcement email! Not to mention I can have a computer to occupy myself should I get bored..which I doubt since I will not have to send my family away.

All in all I am looking forward to this home birth..mainly for the decent food and internet I will have availible

I read the headline

10 year old in college

and wondered if that would be the future of my oldest. This morning he finished his math in record time and I passed the sheet to daddy to check...because I didn't know the answers right off the bat, and would rather work with my youngest (I know all his answers!)

First off the fact that daddy was still home meant record time of completion. Second..the question ran something like this:

"There are 36 pupils in a class. 2/3 are girls. Of the girls 1/4 wear glasses. How many girls wear glasses?"

The total writing on the page? One lousy number. (the correct answer)

Course he did have trouble because he confused area with perimeter for the next problem. but we got that straightened out. By saying "perimeter...dude, what is perimeter again?" to which he said "oh..the side is 16M"..not needing to redo any math, just knew it.

The problem was along the lines of telling you the sides of a rectangle, and saying the square had the same perimeter. wanting you to figure out the length of a side. I don't recall the numbers though.

He regularly gives the answer while I am still working out the process. In some ways this is good, in others it means if he doesn't "crunch the numbers" automatically he can't find the answer. Most of the time it means mommy has to sit there and work out the problem myself where he can't see just in case he is wrong, which he rarely is). And I am considered good at math!

But after reading the full article I would say my kid prolly wont be in college anytime soon. He is a math brain, but the rest of him is pretty normal. (well normal for a homeschooler)

What a switch, I just signed my daughter up for girl scouting, she doesn't start till fall but they wanted her to preregister.

And the training is free! I signed up to be her leader (that is the deal, DH does the boy scouts, I do the girl scouts....so how come I am doing both boy and girl?)

Anyway. Free training is a refreshing change!

Oddly enough, even though I was still too sick to go to church (partly because I just didn't want to share the germs) I had a wonderful mothers day.

My husband took all three kids to church. And recieved several compliments from folk who didn't know us on how wonderful a father he was. I take certain pride in knowing I have such an amazing husband .

They made me cards to bring home, and the day before at the store my husband bought me ice cream.

Plus he offered to go pick up dinner, a huge bonus while I am still recovering.

And I was healthy enough to sleep! I sleep while they were at church, I slept after they got home, I slept in the evening and every time I woke up I was able to go back to sleep!

I actually woke up this morning for no other reason than the sun was shining and I wasn't tired enough to sleep...Though I do plan on a nap now .

For the scouts GMC has to make a poster to earn his communications belt loop. and one to earn the 'leave no trace' award. and one to earn the citizen belt loop...

I don't like making posters, or didn't. I helped GMC and JC make one each the other day, and it wasn't so bad..mostly because they are cute, and they don't have to put quite so much information down, so long as something is learned, I am happy.

GMC did one on Dinosaurs, but really it turned into T-Rex. He drew a T-rex, and traced an actual size T-rex tooth. Plus he wrote what era they are from (cretaceous). I was thinking he needed more, but then I hit on the idea of cutting the poster board in half. That way he could fill the space with his pictures and all.

I did the same thing for JC..she did hers on princesses. She drew an adorable princess, plus wrote out what makes a legal princess. and made a 'princess fan'. Not bad for a little girl.

So I felt a bit frugal about the whole poster experience..now I might try to do the next poster on the back of the first. is that cheap or frugal?

While I don't agree the package was a good idea, I am certainly not one to turn away money.

So I received it, and sent some off to the midwife, used some to replenish depleted stores from the Dr visit and all..and the rest? Just sitting there. Might even be a full 2 months EF now!

I have some, I apparently have a URI, so now I have antibiotics. I really want them to work fast, this whole waiting for them to take effect is not cool. You know normally...non pregnant, you go to the dr and get a script for some 'feel good medicine' in addition to the antibiotics, or at least a recommendation for OTC feel good stuff. But apparently pregnant folk don't get that .

Oh well at least I know in a few days I aught to be better from the meds.

PS: BP is 110 over 70, fairly normal for me, and the infection is NOT in the lungs, it is higher than that.

When my husband got home last night he found nothing done, and me coughing up a storm and complaining that I had a headache..and the only meds in the house were not approved for pregnant folk.

So he practically spun on his heels and headed for the door. brought back two different kinds of medicine (one pill one liquid, I don't swallow pills well) plus some cough drops, plus dinner.

Yeah the months wasted spending due to this sickness is up to 100, well over planned, but...only one more month (ish) to go. 36 weeks on Sunday. I have got to get rid of this coughing before the baby comes, there is no way I can go thru labor like this.

I am old school when it comes to food, I follow the old 4 food groups (in my defense it is what I was taught first before the fancy pyramids)

So every meal has to have a fruit or a veggie, a grain and a protien (with some milk somewhere, but you really don't need that much milk, you need calcium)

This means dinner generally has a bag of veggies each. (5 servings in the bag, though there is nearly always some left for husbands lunch).

I tend to load the plates with equal parts whole grain and veggie and a lesser portion of protien.

I have heard that a kids meal is an adult portion of food, but a kids meal would only keep my girl happy. (My 6 yo son eats more) size wise a kids meal is about what the kids eat husband and I eat more. both boys generally want seconds. (of course if I put more on the plate in the first place they wouldn't finish!)

All three kids are very healthy, we have had 4 sick visits in the 6 years, two ear infections, one kid with allergies, and one recent case of strep throat (which EVERYONE we knew had). They grow right, learn right, and look great. Slightly pron to 'the snots' but then they all seem to have allergies, snots are seasonal, and related to my level of breathing (if I can't breath they have 'the snots'-the little one no longer has trouble breathing, he just has 'the snots')

Broken down by kid:
GMC - 1 ear infection, one strep
JC - 2 ear infections one strep
UE - allergies reaction two years ago.
DH = bronchitis twice

If they are so healthy, why am I so sick? In reality I enjoyed a long time of similar level of health, a yearly cold and the allergy issue along with my son two years ago.

Until this year. This year I seem to be run down or sick 90% of the time. True I am pregnant, but it's not like I haven't been pregnant before. I wasn't sick a day during my oldest pregnancy (I had some pregnancy symptoms, but nothing major) The worst I had during my younger two pregnancies was a cold.

This time around, I had 'real morning sickness' not just all the nausea, but plenty of puking. I have all the old symptoms (excema on the hands, general fatigue, pain, etc, normal simple issues), and I am having real burning cravings (sent my husband out at 11pm for cashews, never did that before). Plus my current allergy induced issue, plus I am anemic for the first time ever. Plus adding iron like crazy to fix it seems to have messed up my intestines. Plus the 'slight congestion' of earlier pregnancies is MAJOR congestion. (and has been even before allergy season) Plus the 'slight shortness of breath' from previous pregnancies is more like 'can't walk across room without being out of breath'. (I seriously have answered the phone multiple times and had people ask 'whats wrong?' All because I had to cross the room to get the phone)

So what am I doing wrong? Why am I so sick? How come they are the picture of health, while I am a tired, sore cranky, moody, breathless, swollen, coughing, tired, non-sleeping, sicko?

I thought Strep came with a fever...but I have two sick kids, one of whom has an aweful looking mouth..really it looks like someone sent his back cheek/throat through a meat grinder added some pus and put it back..boy I hope no one was eating when they read that. He had been complaining of a sore throat about once or twice a day for 4 days.

My daughter just has a few white spots, and in general an occasional complaint, night coughing, but not bad, an ear ache the other day, but only for one day. and when we told her big bro to avoid the little one because he was sick she was adamant that she was sick as well...turns out she was right!

Apparently today you can either get a shot or take meds for 10 days. We opted for the shot..and spent several minutes explaining to the kids how great it would be. one shot, and you are supposed to feel better by evening, and are not contagious after 24 hours. Bad news today is Scout night, good news tomorrow is music. (though I still will be insisting on washing hands frequently and keeping him from extended play with others)

As the doc recoils from my sons horrific looking mouth (really her face was comical when she saw how bad it looks!), he is playing happily..goofing off, barely any less energy than when he isn't sick. The daughter is just the same...my kids don't get sick often (ok they do have plenty of snots) but when they do it is usually bad and yucky...on the inside, on the outside you can barely tell! It is easy to convince a tired sicko worn down to stay home, but a bouncy happy one? Not so easy!

My son was wonderful for the shot, only crying quietly while it went in, and quickly recovered. My daughter on the other hand, she was a bit of a complainer...we are working on her. My youngest was rather upset at the idea he would have to have a shot. (the last 3 or 4 visits have all been shot visits)

But wait theres more! Daddy has spots...not a lot, just a few. So we are banning him from scouts as well, and quarantining the three of them to see if Daddy progresses and needs meds to...in the meantime fluids and gargling salt water will be his plan of attack.

Terrible, I put all kinds of stuff on my google calendar, and now it is down, doesn't google know I need that info?

How could it be down!

I do have a paper version I printed to take with me somewhere..but the whole point of an online calendar is that I always know where it is!

I called last week to speak to the guy in charge of scouting int he area, and the bank we want to set up our account with.

The guy in charge said no big deal, just make sure you have enough people with ID to sign off on it, try this bank the local scout troop has theirs at it.

Fine, no big. I can do that.

I call the bank, they said opening an account is no big deal, but they will have the rep call me back...who never did.

So today my husband and two other willing volunteers head down to the bank at 9am, to open our account.

Not only can they not open it, they are given a list of 10 things you need to open one! WHY didn't they give me this list last week!

And why didn't they guy in charge of scout troops and packs know anything about it?

AND the check we have from the Scout troop needs two signatures on it...which it doesn't have!

I am SOOOOOO NOT HAPPY With any of them right now, Not to mention how unhappy my husband is at having to get up. AND how terrible I feel looking like an unorganized idiot who convinced the other two folk to get up and go, for NOTHING.

I may be an unorganized idiot, but I try really hard not to look like one....

If I had enough dirty laundry to be 'knee deep' in it, I wouldn't have anything to wear and neither would anyone but my husband.

I don't want more clothes, because I am lazy, I hate laundry, I wash it mostly in time to have enough clean towels to take a shower, and enough clothes to have a choice. I aught to do it more consistently (there are 4 loads waiting right now) but I am lazy. I know that.

So keeping my wardrobe small is my defense. Laziness wont let me not take a shower, or not change clothes so after 3 days of not washing towels I have to do some. Or else my husband does . I have the same problem with dishes. If I had enough to skip washing them I would.. terrible but true.

On the plus side, this means a bad streak cannot leave me with too much work to do after!

Eat em plain, make egg salad..and err. yeah

So remind me again why we made so many?

I try to make Challa every year for Easter. In the last 7 or 8 years I have made it 5 times...and every time it is different!

This year I decided to use whole wheat flour in addition to the white...6 half cups of white, half a dozen half cups of whole wheat. The end result was pretty good. Only it tasted better the day we made it than Sunday...

We also tried making 'resurrection' cookies. They are a merang (egg white, no idea how to spell that) style cookie that you make while telling parts of the Easter story. Then you leave the cookies in the oven overnight to cook. They didn't cook quite right so I think we will try them again this week leaving the oven on longer.

Saturday morning we went to the church egg hunt and crafts. The kids had tons of fun, both the older two got hands painted..they really don't know what to think of face painting..the youngest thought the hands was crazy enough! Plus several crafts, and some cool trinkets mixed in with the junk food eggs.

Then after a nap (for mommy) we died eggs, 4 dz just like other years, but unlike other years we didn't have any one to send home a dozen or so with . The kids were very sad about not having any one to share the egg dieing with.

Sunday since it was just us we had burgers for dinner...I think I like the idea of burgers..we o steak for Christmas dinner. Not very traditional, but oh so us.

Next Easter that is. Every year the church has an egg hunt sponsored by the youth group. And the first two years I let the kis enjoy the fun, then dumped all the candy in the eggs into my husbands lunch box. Then I got smart, I went to the after Easter sales and stocked up on little trinkets that would fit in eggs. I actually bought some large eggs on sale as well to fit some larger trinkets.

So while others are out shopping today, I plan on shopping next Thursday (the kids have a dentist appointment, so Husband will be home to drive us around.)

We just got a bunch of rank badges and insignia at the scout store, the total came to $62! How on earth a pile of little badges can add up so fast is a bit beyond me!

I sorted out the reciept to figure out just what was spent on what. only $23 was spent on Rank advancement, the rest was uniform insignia for 4 people.

Which is still a lot!

I noticed that Webelos are more expensive than any other rank. I wonder if we should charge them more or not?

I also decided it would be a lot easier if the total was $25, because we owe 24 for camping, and I would rather eat a dollar than ask them to...and I would MUCH rather not have to cash checks or any other work like stuff.

Right now I have plasn and needs for the next rank of cub scouting, plans and needs for summer, plans and needs for the next few months, plan and needs for a Webelos bike trip, a campig trip, a day camp trip, a summer webelos trip, a august cub trip....and a few other things, like church details and service projects, and fundraising..and well a ton more.

So I sat down today to accomplish a few tasks and blankly stared at the screen. I have so much to do, I couldn't figure out where to start.

I solved it by surfing....but then I got smart. I figure taking it in calendar order might miss something, but not as much as if I spend the rest of my hour surfing!

Finances are a lot like that...if you spend so long debating between highest interest vs lowest amount you will miss the best time to act. Which is now. Hardly ever will paying down something now be the end of the world.

So I am off to organize tonights notes, then Aprils leaders meeting and then April's Pack show.

If there is time, I will pick a new task as well.

I mentioned at our recent leaders meeting that we wanted to firm up the summer plans, and we wanted one event each month that was totally free for all cubs to particiapate in (and mostly free for the pack to run)

I heard some excellent fun suggestions, some kind of mine, a camping trip, etc...none were free. low cost yes, but not free. And when you consider that summer is often a very expensive time for publicly schooled children (no more free kid care) Not to mention the council opportunities are expensive (day camp, resident camp) I cannot see adding our costs on top of that.

I do think the mine and camping would be a great fall or spring opportunity, just not summer.

And I am in confusion as to what is so hard about the word 'free'.....

So far the 'planners' (not leaders) have come up with a bike rodeo, a cub olympiad, a 'fair'...all things that would be free to participate and cheap to run.

I am wondering..can I buy used badges on ebay to give out? I would (will) use used ones for my kid (hand me downs from brother in law) but I am not sure other parents would be willing to use them.

I am going to try and scrounge up leader books on ebay...I see no reason we can't reuse them if I can find them..and we certainly cannot afford new ones.

Of course making sure they are the proper year format is important (to others, my kid can suffer!) and washing any cloth (shirts neckerchiefs) would be important, but I wonder if we could use the pins and such used?

Betcha BSA wouldn't approve! but BSA isn't the one with $50 worth of badges to buy and $16 in the bank!

While commenting on the success of getting another volunteer for the church nursery, I was asked "Just how many pies do you have your fingers in?"

Well umm, not that many, scouts, nursery staffing, Sunday school leading, and my own kids. Oh yeah and minor assistance on the CE team.

Since most of it involves sitting down it isn't so bad even while pregnant. I imagine all of the jobs would be better done if I focused on any one of them...but I am not a very focused person anyway! If I can find a replacement I will, but in the meantime I just try my best.

Aside from gas there is insurance and tags (the sticker on the back) and taxes.

Suppose I wanted a car...what would it really cost me?

Most folk think it can't be much, tags and taxes are often not much more than 200 a year. And insurance for an extra old car isn't much.

The secret to my savings is I do NOT drive. That means I am not insured at all to drive (I do not have a license, I do NOT drive)

Sure it can be inconvenient, and it has created a few raised voice discussions in the house. But in general, once you get used to something it is no big deal.

My husband does ALL the driving. I do all the scheduling..as in honey drive here and here, and here .

This also means that when I see a cool class or neat show, I don't go unless it is after my husband can get off work. further savings. I would find room in the budget to pay for many fun things (trips to the science center, and the like) if I had the ability to get there.

But I don't. Now if I had more money and less needs I might consider it, after all I find trips to the nature center to be very good for kids. As is we only go once a month or so. Also as is, we save that money. Right now saving/paying of the car is more important.

For once it will be an easy task..we are so busy there is no way I can cook most days! So no 'fancy food' grilled cheese or something I can nuke will be it.

Fortunatly I am not known for good food so no one will be to terribly upset

I had this whole post rant about volunteers and how folks need to not expect a volunteer run pack to be perfect (and/or they could help make it so) but I lost it.

So just imagine a tirade against folks not living up to the cub scout motto of 'do your best' here.

Apparently there are a lot less ebay bargains for wolf scout supplies than there were for Tiger.

And Daisy scout is nigh on impossible! fortunately we have time.

PA has tons of 'education stuff' museums, art, children's, and history, science center, Aviary, zoo, plus many parks exhibit farms, conservatory, and so on.

We don't ever have time to do them all, but while in PA visiting family we aim to do one a trip. This trip was the Aviary.

The youngest, UE liked it best, he was talking up a storm about all the different birds, unfortunately we went too late to see the best shows and feedings, but we did still see birds, my husband got to feed a couple, and the kids learned a bit.

GMC had a chance to see a Hyacinth Macaw. which he had recently read about. And there were several (injured) Bald eagles.

When we got back we lamented the cost to a friend...their response "did you think it was cheap" in the kind of tone I would use to ask "why the .... did you waste money on that?"

Now I could be reading into it, after all the words used were not "you are an idiot to spend that" so I promise to let it go after this post, but I did want to complain about money first.

I would rather spend 30 dollars (rounded for the sake of simple math) on one trip to see and learn about birds with my kids than buy 30 dollar store toys. How about 10 typical 'cheap toys? Nope I'll take the Birds. 2 trips to McDees? nope I will pass and see the birds.

You know I really don't like 'cheap' things. I have expensive tastes in some ways.

Speaking of expensive tastes, we also ate out (I could have packed, but well didn't want to....I used my birthday money to eat out)

Did we go to McDees? Nope, a sit down place that served whole wheat bread with the meals. OK fine it wasn't exactly 100% whole wheat (I assume) and the pasta was white pasta. But the veggies were not canned, and the food was good. And this nice waitress lady brought me lots of refills on my water . The total fat content of the meal was lower than a fast food meal, and the veggie availability was better. (not that we never eat fast food, we just lean toward Arbys and the like, where we can get fruit and non white bread)

I don't ask for money from family, nor government, I do spend it in 'odd' ways. I go to expensive museums and the like, I eat whole wheat bread (that cost twice or even thrice that of a decent white loaf) I spend my money where I feel I get the most benefit..and what is the point of having enough money to live till I am 180 if I my health has long since given out due to lousy eating? (don't get me wrong I am not giving up my chocolate or pringles any time soon - just moderating them).

By the same token what is the point of being 180 if I never get to see/learn of more than what in my own front yard? Nah. I want to spend my money on good healthy (ish) food and good healthy (ish) entertainment.

So no, not cheap, but worth a good deal of loot to me.