FIll in the blank:

It is time for __________________.

Summer to be over already!

A Margarita

Me to get my hair colored and cut

my schedule at school to be set in stone

my half-marathon, I have run myself into the ground. My feet don't' want to run anymore and it's not till the middle of NOVEMBER!

Bowen to eat more types of food, I can list what he will eat consistently on two hands.

us to have a new president!

me to stop putting so much food in my pie hole, I'm totally ruining anything that running is doing for me.

6 Random things...

Wally Hotts tagged me, no, actually threatened me, to post 6 random things about me, Heather Lorien Thomesen Williams. Here's to Randomness:

Before going to bed at night the door to the bedroom and the bathroom have to be completely closed. If they aren't they call to me in my sleep and tell me to wake up. Actually, it scares me to death when my children appear at the side of my bed at night, I swear they float in, I never hear a thing until one of them is either saying my name or poking me so I like the bedroom door closed so I might get a little heads up before they come in. The bathroom door thing, I have no clue, it just has to be closed for me to be able to sleep.

I am obsessed with checking my email, it is especially bad since I got an iphone. Every time I hear it ding for email I have to open my mail to see what it is. I mean, I probably check my email 20 times a day.

I am a Harry Potter nerd and a Twilight nerd. I am constantly listening to one of the HP books on my ipod, I rarely listen to music. I have read each of the books several times. The twilight series is awesome! I now officially wish I could be a vampire!

I do not have a public pooping phobia, I will poop anywhere, anytime. That is very helpful since I have to poop while I'm running sometimes.

If you know Meredith and me you know I am the uptight one, however, when it comes to parenting, we are opposite. I totally let things slide that Meredith worries about, it kind of feels good to be the one who is laid back. Don't mess with my bedtime though, or being late or me packing early for a trip, still type A about that stuff.

Redness is part of who I am and I hate it! I turn red at the silliest things, then I realize I'm turning red, get flustered about turning red and then I get redder! Ahhhhhh! I'm never embarrassed, that's the weird thing. For example this week during lunch I was telling my friends a story about Laine and Bowen and I feel the heat coming on, it's the most helpless feeling that only gets worse the more I think about it. Then I'm completely awkward about it and try to shield my face or turn to the side so it's less obvious when I know I'm only making it more obvious.

Weekend in Abilene!

We had a great weekend in A town! We went to the Grace Museum, the West Texas Fair and Rodeo, and smooshed our faces against Mimi's car windows! The kids were AWESOME on all the rides, Bowen especially since he usually a little timid trying new things. I even purchased some new bedside table lamps from Pier 1, they are too cute. Thanks Mimi and Paco for a stupendous weekend!

Numbers

3- The number of people in this house that have MRSA

1-the number of people who don't but found a sore spot on her body today.

1,000-the number of times I wash my hands a day right now

1,001- the number of times a day I want to wash my children down with anti-bacterial gel or a wipe, or just have them steam cleaned.

10- the rating my house got in cleanliness on a scale from 1-10 since my cleaning lady came today!

9- the number of hours of sleep I need tonight in order to be a good mom tomorrow.

3- the number of allergy medicines I take in order to function in life.

12- the number of minutes I have until I want to be in bed for the night, because dang! having germy kids is hard work.

Wishing for Fall

Candy Corns just say FALL to me! So, I bought some today at Wal-Mart today in hopes of coaxing Fall to come on, already!

Why was I at Wal-Mart?

Oh how nice of you to ask!

I was there to buy all sorts of stuff! Like prescriptions for antibiotics, Children's Motrin, Band-aids of the large type, an XL tube of anti-biotic cream. Add all those things together and what to you think of?

Staph infection? Great guess! We'll find out if you're the winner on Monday!

MRSA? Maybe you'll get bonus points, we'll have the results on Tuesday!

We noticed Bowen had a pretty bad looking bug bite on his leg on Wednesday night. Jonathan, our resident surgeon, popped the head on it and put some antibiotic cream on it. The next day it looked the same but last night I noticed that the red ring surrounding the bite was getting larger. One of our friends who is a CRNA was over so he looked at it and said we needed to take him in to get it checked out. That made me worry because our friend doesn't overreact. I called this morning got an appointment and took him in after school today. Dr. Lewis immediately said it was a skin infection and she would have to lance and culture it. Awesome. I then asked her about Laine having a second stye in two weeks, she said that the bite and the eye were interrelated and Laine would need to be treated to but no lancing for her.

If you remember Bowen's history of barfing in stressful, painful situations you know I was warning the doctor and the nurses about that fact. So, Dr. Lewis and two nurses came in and prepped the table. One nurse held one leg, the other nurse held the other leg. I was in charge of the arms and any resultant barfing. It was terrible, he screamed "LET ME GO" and "OUCH" the whole time and let me tell you the boy is strong. it was a fight to keep his arms held down. I'm a tough cookie when it comes to shots and finger pricks but I almost cried while we were fighting him to get him some relief and getting that all important culture. He sat up after they were done and immediately started the "barf cough". You should have seen everyone back stepping away from the table. But, to his credit, Bowen held his stuff together, he did not barf! I was ecstatic! We made a hasty exit from the office and ran to Wal-Mart to get supplies and prizes for the poor boy.

I need Happy Hour!

First Day of School!

Bowen in his cool uniform and Power Ranger sunglasses eventhough it was still dark when we left!
I can't even believe she is in first grade, I still look for her when I see her K teacher in the hall!
Me ready to sweat all day in my hot gym.
Jonathan, relieved that it wasn't HIS first day of school!

Dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets...

absolutely broke my heart today. To tell the truth I can't even think about them without tearing up. Why, you ask, did fused chicken make me weep? Well I'll tell you. When I went to pick up Bowen today his teacher told me he'd been a little upset today when he had eaten his chicken nuggets and no body could give him more, he didn't want his broccoli (duh), he had eaten his peaches but he could only have three (?!) nuggets because that is the rule of portion for his age in the cafeteria. Well. I went down to the directors office, not mad, just wanting to find out why he couldn't have more if he wanted, I mean I pay for his food, give him more! ( A little aside here to explain: I can't bear thinking of people being hungry, kids, poor people, dogs, Jonathan, especially kids, and really especially my kids. I think it stems from Laine as a newborn not getting enough milk at first and having to supplement and pump to get her to gain weight, that girl sucked on her hands and cried and cried and there was nothing I could give her because my boobs were SO full of milk none would come out.) Anyway, I asked what had happened, she said blah blah three nuggets, I said that's not enough for him, and I started crying. She said she was trying to see if things could be changed, I knew I couldn't stop crying, I told her that I was really sad and that I needed to leave and I walked out of the office. Awesomely enough while I was waling to the car, I saw a teacher from my old school and couldn't talk and I saw a student from my new school with her mother and she was asking me questions and all I could say was you've really caught me at a bad time and walk away, tears coming down my face. All I could think of was that my baby was hungry and no one would help him. Is that REALLY what happened, no, those girls love Bowen so much, they gave him everything he wanted except the stupid chicken nuggets. Stupid cafeteria rule. It's so much more that nuggets, it's doubting my working outside the home (I could have given him all the nuggets he wanted if we were at home), it's doubting my decision to buy his lunch instead of making it like 3/4 of the other moms do for their kids in his class. AND, they bring snacks for them too, the learning center provides a snack free of charge, and I'm thinking heck yeah, something I don;t have to pay for! And Bowen is sad because he has to eat apple sauce while the other kids eat their yummy snacks from home, what a beating, at least mentally for me, PEER PRESSURE. I rarely doubt myself, I rarely cry in public, I rarely let myself feel inferior to other moms, but today I did. Today I cried like a baby over three chicken nuggets and I can't seem to shake it.

Later in the afternoon the director called me, I was still crying. She is one of the sweetest people I know. She made me feel better, she told me she was working with Food Services to get things changed. She even cried with me a little while we were taking about how hard it is to worry about your child when they are away from you. I can't decide. Do I start making his lunch? Do I just send some extra food for back-up? Do I just follow up and make sure he's getting enough from the cafeteria?

I'll get some first day of school pictures up soon.

Beach volleyball is the reason I'm blogging

Because I'm tired of watching it, give me Track and Field, Diving, whatever, just no more volleyball! I love having a reason to sit in front of the TV for long periods of time and something that only happens every 4 years is a pretty big reason.

I didn't have the best week last week with the mammogram (which came out OK, I have some calcification in my right breast that they are going to keep an eye on but nothing serious), the cat incident and starting school back I was worn a little thin by the end of the week. The event that topped it all off happened on Saturday morning. I was getting ready to do my 8 mile run at before the crack of dawn o'clock in the morning when I decided I needed to use the potty before we got started. So I make my way over to the port o potty and suddenly wondered why I could see the sky? and a millisecond later I was flat on the ground. I had no idea I was falling until my body collided with the cement, it was terrific. Two people saw me which was two more than the last time I fell in high school while trying to jump over a foot high chain going to a baseball game. I went to the trainer's room to get cleaned up and lied that I had done it on the tennis court, I don't think they believed me since there was gravel all up in my wound and no gravel tennis courts exist that I know of. Well I picked myself up off the ground made sure everything was still attached and could move, got cleaned up with the Luke's first aid kit and then ran 8 miles. You might think I'm pretty tough but with all the whining and sighing and groaning I did the next day I think I might not be a tough as I thought. I mean did you know your muscles get sore when you fall? That abrasions hurt in the middle of the night? That skin hurts even though there isn't a visible scrape or cut? Me neither! And you know if I had a really good story of bravery or heroism to tell to go along with me injury it would totally be OK, all I've got is a fall on the way to the john!

I'm a little sad tonight about school. I don;t like to write a lot about work on my blog but I really need some therapy. I LOVE my new job, the people I work with are fabulous, my school is nice. I guess I miss familiarity, I miss the faces I've seen in the halls for the past few years, I miss the neat things my AP does for in service, I miss Laura one of my best school friends. I know things are only going to get better the longer I work at the FAA, I'm just a little sad tonight remembering all the good parts of my old school.

You know those moments...

in a day when everything up to a point has all gone well and then a series of things happen that make the shit hit the fan? Good. You know when it's about thirty minutes before you need to leave for your doctor's appointment and you decide to get supper started and you season some chicken and notice that your cat is up on the counter? Pumpkin Batman never gets on the counter and then he walks over and licks the chicken? And then you shoo him off and he walks further down the counter and knocks over a cereal box and sits on it? And then you look at him because he's sitting kind of weird and you realize that he's PISSING? And then? Then? You look at the cereal box and he's peed blood?
That is when my day went to Fast Forward mode. I knew that our regular vet would never be able to get him in and I wouldn't be able to get to my appointment on time. So I call the vet office that is about 90 seconds from our house, they will see him, scoop up the cat yell at the kids to get shoes on. All the while they are asking to see the evidence that he's peed blood. We race to the car, get buckled in toss the cat in and speed to the vet. I call Jonathan to tell him not to come home but to meet us at the vet, he's confused but agrees. Now it's 15 minutes before I need to leave for the Dr., we get to the office and everything feels better, if PB tries to die at least we're where they can do something about it. Jonathan arrives i give him the story, I leave. I'm still in panic mode as I'm driving to the Doctor. It turns out that PB has cystitis, it is kind of like crystals in the bladder and now he's on antibiotics and special food and he's not going to die as long as I can find him to give him his medicine.

At the doctor's office the nurse asks me if I've ever has trouble with my blood pressure, I tell her the cat story. The doctor comes in and feels me up and pushes on the sore place way too much. She then puts my mind at ease when she tells me that it feels fibro-cystic and that lumps that are cancerous rarely hurt. She still schedules me an appointment at the Boob Clinic, where they will either do a sonogram or a mammogram just to make sure it's nothing bad. My decision is to not worry until there is something to worry about. The doctor made me feel better, I just wish my boob would stop hurting.

So, here's my advice, if you're worried about something tell your cat to pee blood and you won't feel so worried about yourself.

The times they are a changin'!

It's almost back to school time here at the Williams' house and let me just say, I'm ready. I would have never guessed on June 7th that on August 10th I would be saying those words but there they are. I'm also the type of person that does not languish those last few days of freedom. Once the time gets close at hand, I just want to get it started already. We have Open House on Tuesday night and start in service on Friday. I haven't really been up to school yet because there is furniture and crap in my gym and no one has decided if my office can be set up in the gym yet because of Asbestos, Asbestos Schmasbestos is what I say! Just get me a phone and computer and put it in a room, I need my space, I need to have a home at my school!

The best news I have received all summer long came Friday in the form of an angel! She was heralding and harking and singing that she would come and clean my house for a very reasonable price. I just about did a back flip I was so excited, I'll let you in on a little secret, I HATE cleaning my house, especially once I am in working full time mode. This is one of the best blessings Jonathan's new job has afforded us. She starts August 26th, I'm giddy!

Last but not least, I'm worried about my left boob. It has a sore spot on it that feels "thick", at least that's what Jonathan called it after I made him do a self exam since I couldn't tell with my own self-exam, the funny part was the look on Laine's face when she walked in on the examination, she appropriately called it "Awkward!" Anyway, I don't think it means much from what I've read on some breast cancer websites but I'm going to call the Doctor tomorrow and go in for my peace of mind.

Cage Match 2008

Head vs. Teeth

Who came out on top? Only you can decide!

Six Years Old

The last birthday celebration ending last night, Laine can now officially be 6. She is following in the footsteps of her Aunt and drawing out her birthday for as long as possible. We had a grand weekend starting with a birthday lunch at Mellow Mushroom on Friday and Ice Cream at Central Market on Friday night. That was followed by a rockin' party at McDonald's where the kids had Happy Meals, Ice Cream, Cake and plenty of play time. Then, we had Mere, Ryan, and Blake over for dinner and Laine opened her last present and magically turned 6!

Five was a great year for Laine! She learned to read, swim, ride her bike, and has become a great helper to her mom! She has the sweetest spirit and the kindest heart, she really just wants everyone to be happy. I am so proud to be her mom.

I haven't disappeared, I just went on vacation

WHEW! Today I finally got back home for good and it feels great! 10 days ago I left with the kids and my Mom and went to Ruidoso where Mere, Ryan and Blake met up with us. Then, I came home by myself (9 hour drive, mind you) with the kids so Jonathan and I could go on a couples float trip on the Comal River. Both trips were really fun. I'll focus on Ruidoso in this post. First of all, two very important family members couldn't go and that totally changed the trip, not for the better guys, Dad and Jonathan had to stay put and do adult things, like work. We went to the horse races, I lost money, we went to the Casino, we all lost money, we played in the river and looked for jewels, we shopped, ate, played, laughed, all the things you're supposed to do on a trip. We even went to the Flying J Ranch one evening, that is not something we would normally do as my Dad shys away from anything in Ruidoso that does not include hiking, hiking or hiking and maybe some biking. It was fun, especially for the kids, and the shows before and after dinner were really entertaining. Our friends the Bixby's treated all of us, so thanks a bunch to them for an excellent night!

Horse races, no horse pictures though.

The hike Dad would have hated, don't laugh at my hat, but it was a good one for little legs.The Ware family at the Flying JThis last picture is a snapshot of my sister doing something that made me laugh really hard. She was on a type of bungee apparatus and was attempting to do a flip, she wasn't successful but it wasn't because she didn't try. I'll have to let her give the details from her perspective, I'm sure we'll all be able to laugh right along at her.

Girls and Guns

Yesterday Laine and I got to have a Girls' Day! First, we went to have our toes done. I had a pedicure and Laine was going to have her toes painted with a cute design. She got to do the big girl thing and go off by herself to have them done. I'll have to say I was a little anxious while she was off getting pampered, that kind of surprised me. When she came back to where I was she had her fingers an toes done with designs and the bonus was when I went to pay, hers was only $10!!!! What a great deal, I think I've found my salon. Then we went and had lunch at Jason's Deli, we ate inside and then went out to sit on the patio to eat our ice cream.
After we got home Jonathan and Bowen told us about their Boy Day at the Gun Show! Jonathan said Bowen was in awe of all the cool stuff, especially the binoculars. We all had rest time and then went swimming later in the afternoon. It was a great day!

Hopefully, I will have some excellent pictures to post later today. Some of us are going to try out for a game show. I'll give you a clue: "We surveyed 100 people..."

Hello? Yes, I'm cool. How's it going?

If I call you and the caller ID says "A girl with a really awesome phone is calling you", it's probably me.

Yes, I stood in line yesterday morning to get the new iphone, and yes that probably makes me a nerd, but remember I was already a nerd for standing in line for various Harry Potter releases, so nerdiness is not new to me. The only difference is waiting for Harry Potter and waiting for the iphone is yesterday no one was dressed up like an iphone.

I still haven't read any of the instructions so I probably know only about 5% of what the phone can actually do, but it's still totally cool.

Test, Test, 1...2..3...Mic check, mic check

Ok, can everyone hear me? Good. Hold on let me step up on my soap box, alright I'm ready.

I just watched a segment on the Today show that made me laugh out loud, not because it was funny but because it was absurd. The segment was on cutting your budget in half during our hard economic times. I was interested because I'm always interested in money saving tips. The segment started and it was about a family in Texas who spends $660 a week. So the challenge was to cut that in half.

Here are the things they cut out: getting the car washed, Starbucks, pedicures and manicures, eating out, trips to the mall, having the house cleaned, lawn service.

They were successful, they cut the budget almost 80%, great for them. However, what about the people who never even did any of those things? What about people who couldn't afford groceries before they became more expensive? What about the families who can't afford gas to get to and home from work?

Or, what about middle income families? Who splurge to eat out once a week, who now have to budget gas, who already mow their own lawns, clean their own houses and make their own coffee? WHAT ABOUT THE NORMAL PEOPLE? Come on Today show, give a sister some help!

While I'm on my soap box, let me something else off my chest. This may seem out of left field but, whatever, it's on my mind. Let's discuss the Dixie Chicks. I read a blog the other day where the blogger had been to see Charlie Robison and she stated that he was married to one of the Dixie Chicks and made the comment that that wasn't something to be proud of. I'll have to say I was shocked. I mean wasn't that whole thing a long time ago? My love for the Dixie Chicks never wavered through the whole "George Bush sucks for taking us to war" stuff. I think they are talented artists, perhaps Natalie said too much, but we are a narrow-minded people if we hold that grudge for long. And aren't most of us somewhere in the back of our heads thinking that maybe it's time to bring our sons and daughters home? That maybe it's time for this war to be over? Time for George to hit the road...

I think I'm going to sing extra loud while I listen to my Dixie Chicks CD today.

My kids need a playdate

They aren't playing very well together and a playdate always makes that better.

I'm not even going to talk about 4th of July because I can't get my pictures to load on blogger.

This morning I went to Discount Tire to have my tires rotated and left 10 minutes later because I need 2 new tires instead, aaack. Tires are not fun money spending.

I've got to be the applier of sunscreen this week so I can be not -so- tan for my dermatologist appointment. I don't want to get a hard time.

Bowen has earned two G.I. Joes for pooping on the potty, we're making progress.

Friday the new iphone is launching and I really want one. Jonathan is going out of town so if I want to be in line to get one Friday I have to take the kids with me. Anyone want to babysit at the crack of dawn on Friday?

The summer is flying by all of a sudden. I'm really feeling wary of my new job. Maybe that's why things are going fast, because I'm nervous.

Opinions and Pictures

OK I need some opinions:

First: Is it time for me to get my roots done? Some stylists I've asked have said to wait until my roots are an inch long. That seems pretty long for someone with short hair. But what they are telling me would save me some money. What do you think, how do the roots look?

Second: How do you get a three year old to poop in the potty? I've said before that I'm not the most patient potty trainer there ever was so the pooping thing is getting old real fast. Bowen can tee tee any time we put him on the potty. He's pooped at both his grandparents' houses but not ours. Grrr...Any suggestions? He better be glad he's cute.

Here are some pictures from our visit to Abilene and the train ride Mimi, Bowen, Blake and I took today:

I know my Mom won't love the picture above but it shows the hard work we have to do to actually get Bowen to look at the camera these days.

Strep Froat

as Bowen would say...Poor Meredith is really sick with Strep. Mimi came to the rescue today and is staying with Blake until Mere feels up to "mommy-ing" again.

Mere: Bowen would like you to know that you will feel better again and that you will get rainbow Popsicles if you have to have your tonsils out.

This week Laine is going to "summer camp", she is so happy and SO tired.

Bowen and I went to the Zoo today! It was nice and cool, a perfect Zoo day.

Last week we had fun times in Abilene and even got to see Linda, Robin and Reegan for a day!

Has anyone tried to schedule a Dermatologist appointment lately? Jeez! When I called the receptionist told me they were scheduling for the second week in September. I made an appointment with the PA and got in the second week in July.

Which brings me to why I made that appointment...little bitty pimples ALL OVER MY BACK, and arms, and chest, and on and on. What is the deal! I'm 33! This is totally grossing me out! It looks terrible. I just want a magic pill that will make them all go away. Blech.

Sometimes mail is fun!

Usually mail is boring: bills, junk mail, ads. Generally mail is interesting because Linda signs me up to get samples and you never know what you'll end up with. Sometimes mail is fun! Like yesterday! When I drove up to the house there was a package on the front porch, that was really exciting! Then there was another package in the mail, bonus!

Package number 1 contained my beach bag from Land's End. I searched forever for a really big bag I could take to the pool. I wanted it to hold our towels, snacks, drinks and any other things that needed to come along, like Bowen. I think all that will fit into this ginormous bag.

The next package was the necklace I ordered from Lisa Leonard designs. Her jewelry is so simple and beautiful. I ordered this one for myself for our Anniversary, I know I probably shouldn't buy my own present, but there it is.

You can see that each little medallion has Jonathan, Laine and Bowen's initial. I love it! Thanks Jonathan!

I'm really excited because Meredith and I are headed to Abilene tomorrow and Linda Robin and Reegan are going to come too! Laine and Bowen are already there, we're going to have such fun.