It's February and 70 degrees outside

WoW! This weather is incredible! It's 70 degrees outside in February. Can you imagine that!

Today, my oldest daughter, Mikayla is still sick with pneumonia. Mikayla is 13 yo. She has been sick for the past 8 days. I'm hoping she starts feeling better, and I will know when that happens when she starts fussing at her sisters and nagging me to take her to the mall! lol!

This coming Friday, Feb 13th, will be Bethany's last day in public school. We are pulling her out to homeschool her b/c she is having a very hard time adjusting to public school. For those who do not know, we have homeschooled our girls since Kindergarten. She is still having horrible stomach pains and having a hard time sleeping all night. The Dr's think this is anxiety driven and possibly IBS. She has undergone an ultrasound, hyde-a-scan, and an endoscopy but everything appeared normal. Her bile duct is spasming, and her gall bladder is functioning poorly, but not poorly enough to warrant surgery. So, we have decided to homeschool her again. I am discovering that public school may not be the best place for my girls to be. Schools have changed since I went. The teaching methods aren't the same. Here, the teachers do not lecture (teach lol), rather they have everything on power point with instructions for the students to copy in their notebooks. Some teachers actually read to the students...and I do not mean 1st graders, either. Teachers actually read to my 8th grader! Now, my girls were early readers and it behooves me to know the teachers read to them rather than having them read their own book reports. What is that all about? lol! Anyhoo, not really sold on public school, but two of my girls (the 5th & 8th grader) still likes it and doesn't want to go back to homeschooling. If they start coming home with attitudes then they may have to go back to homeschooling.

Me, Bebe, and Alana walked through the subdivision and played a bit of tennis on a dead end street. Now, my back is so sore! I guess it's not a good thing to play tennis after having back surgery, even if it's been a year. yikes! Mikayla stayed home since she still isn't feeling very well.

I just received news my Jcrew job will be ending on April 1st. but that is okay. Who knows....maybe I can go back to living my lazy, leisure days of old! Wouldn't that be nice? I could actually take a nap during the day. But, I imagine Alpine will find me another position very soon and I will feel obligated to take it. sigh.

Mike is working today. Firestone is having their Tire Super Sale today. He is very sick. I hate to see him go to work so sick. When I am sick, I am a big baby and lay on the couch all day. Men aren't made that way, or so it isn't with him. Even though he has sick days, he doesn't take them. He will have worked 9 days in a row before he has a day off. I don't know how he does it b/c he puts in 12-14 hour days. He is salary, so no overtime pay.

God has really blessed him. In December his store was behind in service and it looked like he wouldn't meet his profits. We prayed, and asked for God's blessing to bring the customers into his shop. God is GREAT! He answered our prayers and miraculously Mike was able to catch up on his profit, service, etc. I'm so thankful for His blessings! We are so undeserving of His blessings. His love still amazes me everyday!

Since Kayla still has pneumonia and her chest is still hurting her, we didn't go to church tonight and I am bored...bored..bored. There isn't anything on TV on Sundays. Boring.

I bought Suzanne Brockmanns, most recent novel, "Into the Dark", so I guess I will pull it out and read a bit. I bought the book, The Shack, but it's really hard on the heart! It's about a man who struggles with the kidnapping & death of his little girl. He is angry with God, and one day, someone knocks on "the shack's door" to minister to him...is it an angel? Don't know b/c I haven't finished it yet. I have only read the first chapter. lol! These types of books (death, kidnapping, etc) are really hard for me to read. So, I have to read snippets and read one or two chapters a day. Besides, as soon as I picked up the book to read it, Bethany starts reading it. I'm waiting patiently for her to finish it and I hope it's soon.

The girls are watching some kind of movie on ABC Family Channel. egads! If I see one more SpongeBob show, I think I will puke!

Back to reading now.....
toodles

A NEW HOLIDAY...PARENTS NIGHT OFF...KIDS PET PEEVES DAYS (GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR MIND) RUN! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! LOL

Well, I did have a first today. Let's see if we can put our firsts in orders. But, I guess since all of them are FIRSTS, then they will always be first, no matter how they are listed: lol!

The first of the first is....my daughter (age 13) has pneumonia. Now, that is a first for our family.

I'm still scratching my head, wondering how did I not see it was coming? She had been coughing for the past 2 weeks. hmmmm..... It's a good thing I am not a nurse, isn't it? I took her to see Dr. McCollum in Smyrna, exrays revealed to us that my sweet, know it all, 13 yo gal, who for the past 2 weeks had refused to take medicine has pneumonia. We are treating it with a Z-pack, and Mulcinex DM Max Strength. She is still coughing, chest still hurting, and it's been since Friday. Today, is Sunday. hmmm..... I would've thought she would be improving more. Now? what shall I do?

My first pet peeve is I hate going to dr's who just love to ask, "have you taken over the counter meds" !! Well, Duh! Of course, we have taken the OTC meds, when I could get her to take them! Who wants to come to the office, spend hours there with three girls, just to be told to go home and take mucinex DM which is sold over the counter! If I take the trouble to see the Dr., please give me strong meds which will knock this stuff out! It's bizarre and I do not understand why the Dr's do that! It's my biggest pet peeve right now.

Second pet peeve....why, do the children, and the hubby, go to the kitchen and eat the last Ding Dong...then instead of throwing the empty box into the garbage, they put the empty box back into the cabinet. Then, Bebe comes and complains, "Mom, we have no cereal." Really? Because I just saw 6 boxes of cereal on the top shelf, in our pantry. Guess what she told me? you will never guess....well maybe you will because I am sure it has happened in your house! "Mom, those boxes are EMPTY!" Oh say it ain't so, Joe! I, then, asked a silly queston, "why would anyone put the empty boxes back into the pantry? When I looked in the the pantry on grocery day, there were 6 boxes of cereal. " Anyhoo, I am sure one day we will know why the kids think it's easier to take a few extra steps to put the empty box in the pantry, when the garbage can is much closer. Then, one day, their children will be putting the empty boxes back into the pantry like their ancesters before them. lol! The cycle never ends. Let it end with us! Please????

I have nother pet peeve, but it is about my hubby and I do want to stay married to him so I will SHUT UP! lol!

Do I have a pet peeve from Alana, my 10 yo? hmmm....let me think! Ah hah! My biggest PP for her is this... Let me ask you a question first....when God allowed man to build closets, beds, and dressers...what do you think He wanted us to do with them? For the life of me, I will never figure it out but I think my daughter is a dyslexic cleaner. Is there any hope for her? For some unknown reason, this child thinks it's cool to put all of her clothes, whether they are clean or dirty, UNDER the bed! Under the bed? I don't get it? As for the dresser...clothes are supposed to be inside the drawer, but not Alana's dresser, no siree bob! She takes her clothes and places them on top of the dresser, under the dresser, around the dresser. You get the picture. I am waiting for her to come to ask me...."Mom what are those rectangle things? Let's not even go over why she thinks we are supposed to throw the clothes in the floor, rather than putting them on hangersin the closet. No wonder she cannot find anything to wear!

Good gracious! let's pray everyone will be in a good mood and actually get in the car at a decent time for school. That is another story to tell one day! ROFL!!!!!