Random Clothing Post

As ya'll know, I'm slated to graduate from Herzing University Online next year. It's been long, drawn-out (due to my own prescribed 6 month sabbatical) but extremely useful and I'm glad that I did it. So far, there has not been one class that was not worth my time (except for keyboarding...I should have been able to test out of that. I type 93 wpm, for reals) and I've learned a lot.

Well, here is my dilemma. I am more than likely going to be getting a different job, which will require me to, you know, SHOW UP. Which means that my sundresses, tank top and flip flop closet is not going do me any good. I'm going to have to wear REAL CLOTHES!!! With actual shoes that hide my toes and decent bras and tasteful make-up. It's almost like I'm a grown up or something!

Now, my plan is hopefully to work from home like I do now, but if I switch to another department within the hospital, there is guaranteed to be some in-house training. At the very least. So I've started shopping online, trying to pick up a collection of clothes that I can get through at least two weeks without worrying about laundry. I don't know if this is because I'm getting older, but I've been mostly buying dresses. Wrap dresses, to be precise. I love them and they're flattering but I'm not sure how professional they are. Not only that, but the hospital has a very strict NO TATTOO clause which means I will either have to wear tights, or find a very good tattoo cover up for my ankle tat. That makes me think I should be looking for classy pants instead. But...I am not a fan of pants. I have a really huge butt and a little waist. So if the pants fit my butt, you can see right down my crack. If the pants fit my waist, I am going to pop the seams from my rear trying to escape.

And shoes. I love open toed shoes. Closed toe shoes make my feet sweat. I also don't do pantyhose. I mean, I live in a swamp. Those things are the devil, I tell you!

And why, why oh why are tops either extremely matronly (high necked turtlenecks in 105 degree weather?) or made for clubbing? Can retailers not make a single scoop neck or v-neck shirt without me looking like a bra model? I like the idea of showing off my collar bone, but not the tops of my cleavage. I want to be taken seriously, not as the girl with huge knockers and a sweet ankle tat.

Maybe I should get a suit...

Pizza Night

Just thought I'd share a few photos of our weekly Friday pizza night. This time, Mr. R's sister, Sissy joined us, along with her son (my nephew!) Brandon. I can't think of a fake name for him right now. I hadn't seen him in about three years. Darned shame, he's a good kid. This is the first picture of all four of them together...ever. I have a picture of Brandon, Missy and Tiger from Christmas 1999, but Bucket wasn't in it. That was when we were going through some of the awful autism stuff, and I couldn't get him to stand still for the picture. Notice Missy never let go of her phone. Priorities, people. Priorities.



"Look, people. I just want to check my facebook and eat pizza. What's your problem?"


My handsome nephew. He looks a lot like his father, I think.



Sissy and Missy. Sissy is Mr. R's younger sister.

What Do SAHMs DO All Day?!?!

I read the blog of one lady who earnestly asked this question. I was instantly brought back to the days when I had three under the age of three. It was...hectic. To say the least. Missy was born in July 95, Tiger in April 97, and Bucket in July 98. I was twenty-three when Bucket was born. Can ya'll imagine how many I would have ended up with had Mr. R not had his vasectomy? Anyhoodles, I decided for the sake of my bloggy friend, to tell her what I did all day. Here it goes:


I've been a stay at home mom, and it is not easy. First, I get woken up two to three times a night by someone screaming to suck on me. Then, I get up and get breakfast ready for three kids. While nursing the little one. I might throw a cup of coffee in my mouth. Then, clean up after breakfast while the kids watch Sesame Street, start a load of laundry. Then we'd end up at the library or the park (anything free), come home, have snack. Clean up after that. Transfer the laundry. Change everyone's diaper. Oh, I'm still breastfeeding, too. Set up a craft for the kids who are able, like coloring and painting. Remember to set out meat for dinner later. Put the baby down for a nap, and then spend time with the bigger kids. Start making lunch. Fold the laundry from the dryer, and do another laundry transfer. Set lunch on the table, while at the same time cleaning up the wretched mess from the painting/coloring. Baby screaming, run in to get him. Sit down and nurse him after changing him. Hear a scream from the dining room, someone dropped the juice. Mop that up, put the two older kids down for a nap while I spend time with the baby. Run dishwasher, do another laundry transfer. Get dinner started for tonight. Play itsy bitsy spider with the baby, change his diaper again, then go into the bedroom and realize the toddler had a major poop blow out. Decide that our afternoon activity is going to be bubble baths and more laundry. Fill the tub with water, put in bubbles, strip all kids naked, and grab the bath toys. They play in the tub for an hour until they look like senior citizens. Of course, I have to sit there the entire time, because they are too little to be left alone. Look in the mirror and realize I've been walking around all day with pink plastic barrettes in my hair when my daughter decided to play beauty shop earlier. Yes, I went to the library like that. Fabulous. Get kids out of the tub, dry everyone off, put fresh diapers on the two little ones and figure we might as well put on pjs at this point. Get everyone in the living room and turn on the longest kiddo movie I know, which is Sleeping Beauty. It's about 2hrs and 15 mins, which means I have time to now get the poopy sheets and blankets and throw them in the wash so hopefully he can have them back by bedtime. Fold clothes from the dryer. Preheat oven. Find the baby crawling backwards and getting stuck under the crib again, so have to crawl under the crib to get him. Time to sit down and nurse. Again. Nope, need to hop up, and nurse while pouring drinks in toddler cups for those enthralled with Sleeping Beauty. Throw meatloaf in oven. Phone rings. Ignore it. Phone rings again. Realize it's my husband. He calls to tell me that his friends are coming over after work and to please make sure I've vacuumed. Laugh hysterically and hang up on him. His friends can vacuum when they get here if it's that important. Turn around and realize the younger toddler has thrown up on himself. Strip him again, this time I put him in the sink to give him a very quick bath since he just had a very long bubble bath. Change the baby's diaper. Paint my daughter's toenails because we're pretty sure Aurora from Sleeping Beauty had pretty nails, and she wants them too. Change laundry out again. Hubby and four friends walk in the door. Two kids run to their dad, I hand the baby over, say hello to the guys, and promptly go in my bathroom and lock the door and stay there for an hour.

That's what I did all day, anyway. ;)
Hope that helped!

btw, I have teenagers now. I was laughing hysterically when I was typing it out. I had forgotten much of it...possibly out of desperation.

Jennifer, thanks for the memories. I miss those times when mine were little, but watching them grow up has been a complete joy. I'm also very glad I don't wash poopy blankets anymore.

Vacation

I am on vacation the next three days, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I hope to share some amazing pictures of the children and I having some fun. Unfortunately, Mr. R got sent to Mississippi for a plant load. We're going to miss him, of course, but we can party hardy without him.

Stay tuned for: beach pictures! bowling pictures! my organized desk area! biscuit baking! cookie making!

Oh yes my friends. I will bombard you with images of my staycation. Stay tuned!!!

Urodynamics

What a post title!

Today was my appointment for the urodynamics test.
I have to admit, I wasn't feeling gung-ho. I made the appointment first with the urologist, who didn't even examine me, just mentioned that I was fat (oh, I thought I was fluffy!) and said I qualified for surgery. Without ever checking out the goods. Uhhh, okay.
Last Monday the 15th, I had my first urodynamics appointment. My monthly friend decided to visit a few days earlier (she always like to crash in on weekends) and the test can't be done during such a special time. So I had to reschedule for today. When I got in at 2:30 for my 3pm appointment, they couldn't find me in the system. Even though they had called me to confirm, they forgot to enter me into the system and had given the appointment to another patient. Oooh, but here's the funny part. They could fit me in at 4:30. Oh yes, I'd love to wait here for 2 hours. NOT. So I canceled the appointment.
I have been dreading this visit all weekend. And I am not exaggerating when I prayed in bed the other night and said, "Lord, if you don't want me to keep this appointment, You need to do something. I don't know what, but please make it known to me that I shouldn't be doing this." So the receptionist was shocked when instead of erupting in anger over the error, I burst into maniacal giggles and skipped out the door.
So I think I'll be skipping this procedure, at least for now. I didn't have a great feeling about it. And I feel like He really moved things around in order to catch my attention. :D

Goodbye, Debt!

Like many people, Mr. R and I are getting aggressive in getting rid of debt. I don't know if ya'll remember my post from a few months ago when I tried to cancel my credit card. It was HARD! They really tried hard to keep me as a customer (or keep my money, as it really should be known as) but I prevailed and did cancel it. Now, we are on the verge of receiving our tax refund in approximately 6-8 weeks. It is not a huge amount, considering we have three children: $2300. Honestly, I'm glad it's not a huge amount. That means we weren't giving the government free money throughout the year. I need that money! Have you seen teenage boys eat? AI YI YI.

Anyway, $2300. A nifty amount. And we are doing the most boring possible thing with it. PAYING OFF TWO DEBTS. I know, I know, we're MANIACS! Goodbye, laptop payment. Goodbye, washer and dryer payment. It was not nice to know you. Now goodbye, and don't let the door hitcha where my foot shoulda kicked ya. (Gosh, I'm clever.)

I think we might have enough left to go out to dinner or something with the rest. Without the kids. After all, have you seen teenage boys eat? AI YI YI!!!

My New Office

So Mr. R and I spent the entire weekend moving my office from the dining room into the unoccupied breakfast nook. We don't need another table for the kids to throw their backpacks on. The only thing we did with this space in the past was to store dog and cat food, and put up our Christmas tree.


I need a new office chair. My big butt has been occupying this chair for six years, and I've flattened it out. You can feel the plastic underneath. Sometimes I fold up a towel for my poor posterior.


On my desk: A Fingerhut catalog, my calendar, a bottle of Victoria Secret Heavenly body lotion (my favorite, and my birthday is in two months...just sayin'), my pink Diva coffee mug, my phone and headset, my highlighters and Sharpies, and on my fax are my two coding books. I use them constantly so I just leave them on the fax. You can also see my shredder right next to me. I don't like it there. I trip on it every time I get out of my chair. That may end up under my desk at some point, but I'm not certain yet.



Oh, and my pink cell phone is there too. I'm not done decorating. I have some coffee art (no, I'm not kidding! For REALS.) that Mr. R is going to hang up for me when he gets home next time. Plus there is one more shelf to install over the fax. That will be for pictures of the kids, and space for my candles. I love to light candles as I work. Not because I'm casting spells, it just smells pretty. Harharhar. I don't do spells!



This is my view sitting in my chair, looking straight ahead. It's the world's smallest kitchen, or as I not-so-fondly refer to it, my Manhattan Kitchen. We are painting out the red to blue. I love red, but I'm over it. And you can see Mr. R's drums past the kitchen. I used to be right next to them. They need to be IN THE GARAGE but we're getting there. Supposedly.



And this is my view of the backyard from my desk (I'm looking slightly to the left.) SOMEONE left the wheelbarrow out. And that is my compost bin right next to it. I don't own a patio set, but I'd like to get one. Sorry the picture is so dark, but it was storming when I took this shot, and my flash wasn't cooperating.

And that, so far, is my new office. I love it!

Surgery

Hey everyone! I have not posted in a while because:

1) My new class is very challenging
2) We have two people out at work and so I'm doing the work of three people
3) Mr. R was home for five days and I spent time with him, not on the computer

It was nice having him home. We finally moved my office to a different part of the house. Now I get to look outside at the backyard, instead of staring at a wall. I love it!

I'm not sure if any of you guys remember that last year, I toyed with the idea of having the surgery to fix my bladder issues. I decided not to do it, because of my dream of having another baby. Well, here I am, another year later, no closer to the dream baby. However, I am wearing a diaper. Pleasant, no? I've been sick since January; I mean, I feel fine now, but I still have a lingering cough and I wet myself every time. (I'm so sorry if this is TMI) I told Mr. R I was sick of the diaper, sick of changing my clothes three times a day, sick of ruining my underwear. So I decided to go for a consult with a urologist.

It turns out, I really do have some major issues. I have to go in for something called urodynamics next Monday, where they put in a catheter (shudder) and measure the strength of your bladder when they put stress on it or something like that. I also have to go in for a cystoscopy (when they stick a scope in there to look for cysts or other fun things.) After all this, the procedure I'll be having is called a vaginal bladderneck suspension. It is basically a sling that holds up your bladder so that you don't wet yourself every time you move. It is an inpatient procedure, meaning I will be in the hospital for at least one day, possibly more. I will probably wait to have it done over the summer, because I want Mr. R home to take care of me, and not my mom. I love my mom, but this is pretty private personal stuff and I'd rather have my husband. And I figure that it would be best if he didn't have to deal with school stuff because he will never get them out the door on time.

What does this mean about babies? Frankly, nothing. Mr. R still says that he wants to have more children. I hear the talk, but see no walk. Every time we have money to put down for his surgery, he bails on me. Now he is telling me he wants to wait a few more years...well, that is not really good for me. I'm going to be 35 this year. My thinking is, I'll have the surgery. And if he chooses to get the reversal, that's fine. It will ruin the procedure, but it doesn't actually hinder pregnancy. And if he chooses not to get the procedure, at least I'll be out of diapers. I'm really, really over them.

In more cheerful news, I am scheduled for a short mini-vacation from March 29-31. I'm giving myself a 5 day weekend. On Monday, Missy has the dentist, but the rest of the time is open for fun. The kids have asked to go to Sea World. We haven't been in years, so I'm game. Hopefully it won't be too hot. I have issues with theme parks in the summer. Meaning, I'm not going. So if it's over 85, you will not catch me at a theme park, unless it's Wet n Wild. We might go bowling or hang out with Nana at her job, since she works beachside with a pool. And get coconut shrimp on the beach...oh yeah!