I Simply Should NOT Be Allowed In The Kitchen!!

One would think that someone of the ripe old age of 32, married, with three kids would have mastered the art of the kitchen by now. Not only do I not know how to cook well (given the fact that I've actually had to award readers by helping me with recipes), but I don't know how to work a garbage disposal (since I almost lost my eye recently), and I now have a beautiful scar on the front and back of my arm from the evil monster called the oven!!

In trying to cook my children an ultra healthy meal of frozen chicken nuggets the other night, I reached in the oven to turn the nuggets over half way through their cooking cycle. Instead of taking an oven mitt (which was within arms reach of me) to pull out the oven rack to do this, I figured to myself, "Oh, I'll just stick my arm in there and turn them over." That is when a searing pain touched both sides of my arm and left beautiful marks on either side of my wrist. At first it didn't hurt too bad. Being the domesticated diva I am, I just put my wrist under cold water for awhile and figured I was good to go. Wrong! I know most of you mom's out there have probably never been in danger of a butcher knife taking out your eye or having an oven burn the life out of your arm, so you probably can't sympathize. But let me tell ya. It hurt. Within two days, I had a bubbling blister on my arm that hurt when I even tried to turn my wrist. And I now feel the need to tell anyone within arms length of me what a kitchen idiot I am lest they think I did something to purposely harm myself, because that's what it looks like.

People....Martha Stewart I AM NOT! If anyone in this world needed a maid, it would be moi! Applications now being accepted!!

Oh No, She Di'in!!

Please, please tell me that J.K. Rowling didn't end "Half Blood Prince" the way she did. Tell me I'm going to re-open that book and read the ending and discover that I had fallen asleep in my "Harry Potter Reading Chair" and dreamed that ending. Or tell me that in July when I get the last book that we'll find out that it was a dream Harry had. Tell me something like that. Dude. That is just wrong! I felt somewhat ridiculous sitting there reading that with tears in my eyes desperately trying to hide that fact from my husband. Good grief.

I'm estimating in the last month, I have read close to 4,000 pages of Harry Potter. I haven't done an official count, but it has to be close to that. So it's safe to say I've immersed myself in the life of all of those people. And therefore safe to say that however silly it may seem, I feel like they are/were my friends. I didn't do it like the rest of the world and read them as they came out with a year or two between books. I read them one after the other after the other and now I feel.....lost. I finished #6 on Saturday night and wandered around aimlessly yesterday afternoon when I had free moments, looking sadly at my "Harry Potter reading chair" wishing I hadn't read them so quickly and had one of them to read. Pathetic, I know. I had to settle with reading "People" magazine. From which I once read religiously to get all my good celebrity scoop. Oy vey. Two months to go.....what ever will I do.

Lucky for you, this will most likely be the last Harry Potter post you see for awhile. Woe is me.

Thankfulness

Wednesday nights results show on American Idol (the Idol Gives Back show) really affected me. I was in tears on more than one occasion watching the heartbreaking videos, seeing the heartbreaking pictures and hearing the heartbreaking stories; of not only the horrible conditions in Africa, but those that exist even in our own country. Living where I live, and living in this country, it seems un-fathomable that here in the good ole U.S. of A, people are suffering the way they are. I thought a lot about the troubles I have faced recently and in the wake of watching that show, they seem so miniscule by comparison. I thought about all I really do have to be grateful for:

Things I am Grateful For This Week

1. A husband who this week has:

--Mopped the floors
--Done multiple loads of dishes
--Done multiple loads of laundry
--Taken out multiple loads of trash
--Mowed the lawn
--Taken the kids to the park
--Gotten up before 8:00 every day whether or not he's ready to get up.
--Taken Anakin to school so I don't have to drag the girls out to do it.
--Let me take a nap yesterday afternoon when I had the afternoon off and he entertained Feisty.
--Not complained while I have spent endless amounts of time with my rear end parked in a chair reading Harry Potter.

2. My children who are healthy and who I can almost certainly count on waking up with their happy voices to tell me they love me in the morning.

3. A job that I have had for ten years and that I feel safe and secure in.

4. My health.

5. The fact that 3/4 of my grandparents are still alive and well.

6. Doctors and hospitals who are available to help us when we do fall ill and the ability to get medication easily to help us get better.

7. My education, and the education of my children.

8. A system that (albeit very slow sometimes) is available even when financial difficulty does arise, and is able to assist with medical bills and other things.

9. My parents.

10. My home.

11. My neighborhood.

12. Freedom of speech and religion.

And much, much more. And I just need to remind myself of these things when life gets hard. Ironically, this is what our pastor preached about last Sunday at church. Very apropos.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend.

Woman to Woman: Enduring Health Problems

Enduring Health Problems

There are few things in life that are more difficult to deal with than health issues. Particularly if they are life-threatening or dibilitating health issues. Up to this point in my life, I feel very fortunate and lucky to have had to deal with very few health issues where my children are concerned. Of course there are the typical colds, flu bugs and the like that afflict us, and while they are happening they are miserable, but nothing that won't go away. Care Bear does have an eye condition called "amblyopia" which is basically lazy eye and has been wearing glasses since she was 20 months old. While at the time of diagnosis this was a heart breaking thing for me, I now can't imagine her without her glasses. They are a part of who she is and a part of her personality. Obviously, I would prefer it if there were a "cure" for her eye affliction, but as of now there isn't and at her most recent appointment, I was informed that she will probably wear glasses the rest of her life. If that is the worst thing I have to deal with in terms of health with her, than I will feel very blessed.

Anakin has ADHD. I could have told anyone without even having an official diagnosis that he was ADHD from about the first few months of knowing him. This issue is a little more difficult to manage because of the nature of it, and because it is not a physical illness in most senses of the word. Anakin has a great deal of difficulty focusing. He has a great deal of difficulty sitting still. He has an enourmous amount of difficulty doing homework and being able to sustain through an entire day of school. When he was first officially diagnosed with ADHD, his doctor prescribed Ritalin. We were a bit skeptical at first about giving him the medication due to what we had heard about it, but at that point, we were willing to do whatever it took. Within hours of Anakin taking his first dose of Ritalin, we saw an unbelievable change in every aspect of him. He was able to focus on things, he was able to concentrate in school, he was able to do homework without fidgeting and becoming overly aggravated. His teacher was beyond thrilled with the change. But shortly, the effects of the medication began to wear off. His doctor increased the dosage. And once more after that. At that point, we decided that we no longer felt comfortable with the constant increases in the medication. Despite the fact that it was helping him, we felt like we were over-drugging him. His doctor decided to try another medicine for him that is supposed to control symptoms of ADHD and with this particular drug, he only had to take it once a day. But after only a couple of days on this medication, Anakin was barely recognizable as himself. He was, simply put, a zombie. He had no personality, he sat around staring off into space, and it was hard to get his attention. This was not acceptable to us either. So we took him off of that drug. He hasn't been taking any medication since that time. For one, because two drugs proved unsuccessful, and for two, his biological mother is violently opposed to him taking medication for it. So the past two years since taking him off the drugs have been difficult in terms of trying to control his hyperactivity in other ways. His teachers have all almost begged us to put him back on some type of medication. But short of getting a court order, or a doctor to testify in court to his bio mom that he needs to be on medication, that isn't going to happen. So, we do our best. In some aspects, he seems to be outgrowing it a little bit. And he has wonderful teachers, two of which have also had children with ADHD and they know how to handle those types of kids. We are very blessed for the teachers he has had and the support he receives from his school, and that is where we are at this point. It just requires a little extra attention, a little extra help, and a little extra time.

I, myself, have never been the "healthiest" person around. I was diagnosed with asthma at a very young age and have multiple air-born allergies that about this time of year seriously wreak havoc with me. Due to the asthma, as a young child and still to this day, I contract bronchitis fairly easily and at least once a year I get some sort of illness that puts me out for a few days.

Four years ago, when little Care Bear was a mere six months old, I was hospitalized twice for pneumonia. The first time, I had gone to the emergency room in the middle of the night having extreme difficulty breathing and on the verge of passing out. The doctor who helped me was extremely rude, gave me a "breathing treatment" and sent me on my way. I was back three hours later and a kind doctor finally took me seriously, did a lung x-ray and admitted me immediately to the hospital. But at that time, they thought I had a blood clot in my lung. The put me on the blood thinning medication, Cumadin, and I was there for five days. After being back home for two days, I was still horribly miserable and couldn't even walk up and down the stairs of my town-home without getting extremely weak. Suffice it to say, it was very difficult to care for a young baby in that condition. I went back to the hospital, and the doctor who had discharge me listened to my lungs again and got an extremely worried look on his face and looked like he was going to pass out. He admitted me back in right away; diagnosis pneumonia. I was there for another ten days.

Twelve years ago in June, I spent 3 months in Arizona getting treatment for an eating disorder. I chronicled that journey extensively back in January. The whole story can be found here or by clicking on "My Story" in labels on the sidebar.

This has gotten quite lengthy. I guess I have dealth with my share of health issues through my 32 years, but thankfully none of them have cost any lives or permanent damage. Through all the health issues I (and the others) have endured and survived. It's never fun or easy dealing with illnesses or health problems. While going through them, they are very difficult, but once they have passed....if they do....they merely become a distant and unpleasant memory that I choose to try to forget. Until the next one comes along.....

Perhaps My "Addiction" Has Gotten Out Of Hand

Perhaps it's gone into a full-blown obsession. Yes, I am referring to Harry Potter who has caused my housework to go seriously neglected over the past few weeks. Who has caused me to not touch my computer in days, except when I'm at work. Who has caused my husband to ask, "Whatever happened to your blog? I never see you doing anything with that anymore." Who has actually made me leave days worth of my taped soap opera laying around untouched. Who has caused me to go to bed way too late on way too many occasions. And who has made my children say things such as:

Care Bear: "Mommy. Why do you always bring that book with you everywhere you go??"

Feisty: "Mommy. Don't worry! I found your Harry Potter book."

Care Bear: "MOMMY! I think I just saw a Harry Potter movie on TV! Aren't you going to watch it??"

Anakin: (In a slightly worried tone) "Kristen! You're already that far?! You've caught up with me!!"

Yes, it's true. I'm halfway through year 5: "Order of the Phoenix" and am getting a little worried as to what I'm going to do with myself when I finish number six, which will probably be by the end of the week. Maybe some laundry will get done. Or some vacuuming. Or maybe I'll have something else to write about on this blasted blog of mine besides Harry Potter.

I have to say that J.K. Rowling has got to be one of the most imaginative, talented, able to weave a story writers that I have ever read. Everytime I think I have something figured out in one of these books, she never fails to surprise me. I heart these books. HEART THEM. Thanks to those people out there who pushed me to give them a try. Sooooo worth my time!!

Celebrity News by Kristen--American Idol Edition #5

Volume 1: American Idol Issue 5
Doing My Part to Keep Bloggy World Informed

**Disclaimer: I have nothing personally against any celebrities mentioned in CNbyK. It is only opinions and only for fun. Please do not sue me. Please feel free to speak your own opinions, even if they aren't the same as mine.**

Ding Dong The Doof is Gone!!

Like I say in my disclaimer....I have nothing personally against the guy. I actually think he's kind of cute in a goofy sort of way, and I think there is some level of talent there. But for the love of all that is fair and decent in this competition.....what took this country so long to get this guy outta here?!?! I mean COME ON!! We had to sacrifice the likes of Brandon, Stephanie, Gina, and Chris Sligh and be subjected to ridiculous hair-dos every week, all because, um....he was "Vote For The Worst.com"s pick? Because he has a nice smile? Because we wanted to see how far we could take the worst of the top 12?! Whatever the reason, justice has finally arrived this season and I can recover from the heart attack I almost suffered from Blake being in the bottom three!! What the??????

I really didn't think this week was great. I don't think country music really suits any of this years contestants. And I'm sorry, Chris R., but I just about spit out my Diet Dr. Pepper when I heard you arguing with Simon that "nasally is a form of singing." ROFL!!! Wow! Thanks for the laugh. Yes, typically country singers tend to be a bit more nasally, but I don't think that they are purposely setting out to be nasally. That's just how they sing. Here's an idea Chris. How about you just sing with your real voice and adapt to the genre of the week instead of trying to be Mr. Chameleon and changing your color every week and trying to be someone you really aren't?! Does your idol, the GREAT JUSTIN TIMBERL@KE change himself with every song he sings?? Anyway.....that was a good laugh.

I've finally narrowed down my choice for the top two. And like it's any big surprise, my thoughts are that the final three will come down to Melinda, Jordin and Blake with the final two being Melinda and Blake. I don't even dare try to pick a winner because my choice always comes in second place. Therefore I refuse to jinx the one I want to win by picking a winner. Is that superstitious or what?! But my track record speaks for itself.

There are two radio DJs in Denver who are very grateful for Sanjaya's demise. And the reason for that? After last week's show, the DJs climbed onto the top of Six Flag's Elitch Garden's tower and vowed to stay there until Sanjaya was voted off. They lived there for a week, and lucky for them, Sanjaya's luck finally ran out. Here's a news clip about it if you're interested. Good thing for them because it's really chilly and windy around here today. I'd hate to be at the top of that tower right now!!

Now who do I want to go? No one, really. I like the remaining six. My campaign for Sanjaya's exit is over. I don't know what to do with myself. If I were to have to pick out of the final six who I want to go next....purely based on talent and nothing else....I would have to say Chris should go next. Then probably Phil. Then Lakisha.....leaving the final three that I mentioned earlier. I can't believe it's going so fast.

And that's all for Celebrity News by Kristen this week. Until next time. There's a poll on the sidebar. Vote. If you want.

Care Bear has a new post up on her blog. More artwork. The paper she drew on was red and it's a little hard to see. Hope you enjoy her latest masterpieces.

Thanks, Harry!

I wrote a post earlier today that I decided not to publish. It's sitting in drafts. I said earlier that I wasn't going to post again until I felt I had something good to write about. So, I decided to keep to that promise and leave it alone. I will say that I am not having a good time right now and any and all prayers are greatly appreciated.

Other than my children, I have had one thing that has kept me distracted over the course of unpleasantness over the past few weeks. One thing that I look forward to curling up with in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed and I have a moment or two to myself. One thing that has taken me out of my sort of reality that I am living right now.

So, I'd like to thank you, Harry Potter and your gang: Hermione Granger; Ron, Fred and George Weasley; Hagrid; your miserable relatives, the Dursley's; and even that crabby old meiser Snape. I have thoroughly enjoyed "escaping" into your little world and reading about all of your adventures at Hogwarts.

Good grief. I can truly not believe I have become a Harry Potter fan. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined. I began reading these books, as I said in an earlier post, in order to see what it is that Anakin finds so fascinating about these stories, and to have something in common with him. It seems to have worked. Not just because we now have something in common, but because he sees that I have taken an interest in something that he likes.

I feel a little bad now about being so critical in the past about something I knew nothing about before reading them. I thoroughly enjoy the humor, mystery, and enchantment of these stories. And the idea that they could "entice" children into bad things? Rubbish. They are a great read and I have enjoyed every minute so far. They are classic good vs. evil in which (thus far anyway) the good conquers. I have just started "The Goblet of Fire." My only regret is that I can't put them down and I fear that I will finish the 6th one long before the 7th one hits shelves in July. I feel I should slow down. And I feel that once book seven is completed, I will be sad that the journey is over. Maybe J.K. Rowlings can continue with the series having Harry and his gang working for the Ministry of Magic? Y'think?

Sorry to ramble on and on about Potter, but it's official.....I'm addicted. Good grief.

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!

I am briefly coming out of hiding to urge everyone who is a pray-er to pray for my dear blogging friend, Heather of "Especially Heather". You may know of Heather because of her daughter Emma-Grace. Now Heather has been diagnosed with a brain-tumor. How much more can one family endure?! Her friend, Laura, is doing regular updates on Heathers condition at Heather's blog. Please keep Heather and her family in your prayers as they deal with this latest crisis.

Sure puts a lot of things in perspective....

I really have nothing much good to talk about these days. Except of course, my kids, but people probably get tired of hearing about them all the live long days. So, I'm just going to take a break for now until something happens that's worth writing about. I'm not quitting; just waiting for something good to happen. Sorry I haven't been around much visiting blogs and commenting on everyone. Just haven't had much time, energy or desire lately.

Care Bear's Good Friday Prayer

Tonight, during Care Bear's goodnight prayer, she stopped mid-prayer to inform me that we needed to say, "Dear God..." tonight instead of "Dear Jesus". When I inquired as to why we needed to do that, this was her response:

"Because Jesus can't hear us tonight, Mommy. He's walking down a street with a cross on his back and thorns on his head."

This Mama, needless to say, was speechless. After we continued the prayer to God instead of to Jesus, she ended the prayer by saying, "Have fun in Heaven tonight, Jesus. Amen."

Have a wonderful Easter.

Celebrity News by Kristen--American Idol Edition #4

Volume 1: Issue 8

Doing My Part to Keep Bloggy World Informed

**Disclaimer: I have nothing personally against any celebrities named in "Celebrity News by Kristen". It is only for fun and only opinions. Please do not sue me. And please feel free to express your own opinions....even if you don't agree with mine!**

******************************************

It's official. This season bites the big one. I'm thisclose to tuning out for the remainder of the season....and believe me.....I will do just that if Haley and Sanjaya end up being the final two. What kind of finale would that be?!?!

So Gina is gone. It's no secret that I was champion-ing for her. I liked her spunk and her "different-ness". Some people may have not liked the rocker chick persona, but the past two weeks, she proved that she can actually sing--and sing well. True, maybe she wasn't the power-houses that Lakisha, Melinda and Jordin are, and I had no inclincation that she would win or even get to the top four, but she under no uncertain terms deserved to be there longer than Sanjaya and Haley. I guess America just likes the same ole same ole. And Haley's legs. And that's America's prerogative. But it's my prerogative to be highly irritated and annoyed that I get to witness yet another week of ridiculous Sanjaya hair. I guess people thought it was cute that he went out there and danced with Paula. Or maybe they didn't feel like insulting Tony Bennett by voting him out after Mr. Bennett had such nice things to say about Sanjaya. Who knows. I'm through trying to figure out the appeal of peacock boy. ------>>

I thought all of the contestants did pretty well this week (minus twinkle toes) and I had no doubt that Sanjaya would be safe this week. But I was shocked that first off Gina was in the bottom three, further shocked that she wasn't the one to go back to safety, and downright p'od that she was the one to go home. I just had to quit watching right then and there. I couldn't stand to watch her sad video with that tear-jerking Daughtry song playing in the background. I did happen to see a glance of her crying while watching it and I had to leave the room.

Tell ya what....when Blake goes, that's when I'm done. And I won't be kidding then.

If it's any consolation, Gina, I liked you. And I voted for you. And I'll miss you.

There's a poll on the sidebar. Vote. If you want.

Have You Done It Yet?

Gotten your blog critiqued, I mean? I wasn't gonna. I mean, what if I did and he had horrible, nasty, mean things to me? My ego is too fragile to handle that kind of rejection, people. But I'm a band-wagon jumper type, and everyone else was doing it, so I decided to jump off the cliff, too. I got my response from him today. This is what Bill had to say about my so-called life.

Keeping with the mom theme (as the dads get pounded into the pavement), Kristen send us her blog entitled, Mama's So Called Life! No shortage of material here either, Kristen blogs about her life and times with her family and her 3 children with stories that I can amazingly relate to. I have 2 small boys so these mom and dad blogs hit home for me. I loved the post about how her little on asked to start her own blog. This is great...bloggers are getting younger and younger. You have to check out this blog that, in my eyes, is the best one yet. It's entitled Care Bears World. It would be nice if you all stooped by and said hi to this mom and daughter team of bloggers and leave a nice word in the comments!

What he said about me wasn't ego-crushing. So I'm alright. But the fact that he plugged Care Bear's blog? Well, the guy has my eternal gratitude. I mean, how cool is that? So, I expect that Care Bear may soon be receiving more traffic than me. It's all good. As long as it stays in the family. :-)

And speaking of Care Bear....she has a new post up today. With artwork.

In Which I'm Happy to Still Have My Eye

1st lesson in doing dishes:

Never, ever under any circumstances begin to run your garbage disposal unless you are absolutely certain that there is nothing impeding it. I know most people probably know this, and so do I. And I thought there was nothing impeding it but it was hard to tell what with all the food trying to make its way down the disposal. I discovered I was wrong when a butcher knife shot its way out of my sink like a rocket and missed my eye by about a millimeter. The whole incident lasted about 2.5 seconds, but in that time my heart stopped briefly and visions of a knife stuck in my eye and trying to picture my daughter calling 911 but not being able to after witnessing the horror of mom's bloody head swirled around. The fact that neither my husband nor my parents were around just furthered the panic. And then I realized....the knife didn't pierce my eye. I'm OK. No need to panic. But I am a little scared to do dishes now. If you don't believe me, come look at my sink.

Paying it Forward

My mom recently awarded me the "Thinking Blogger Award". The idea is to award five people and then "pay it forward" by going on to award five more people. I feel honored to have been given this award, but I am faced with somewhat of a dilemma. There are so many blogs that I love to read and I have been blessed to have met so many wonderful people throughout my blogging time. To have to narrow this down to five people is very difficult. But here goes:

1. I would first like to pass this award onto someone who is very dear to me. I have known her my whole life and when I was younger, we spent a lot of time together; playing when we were younger, and as we were older writing "snail mail" back and forth to eachother talking about the typical teenage things; boys, music, school, boys, doing makeovers, boys....you get the idea. We had many "kool-aid" chats in my cul-de-sac late at night while she was visiting. She is a fellow blogger and I love to read her because not only is she greatly funny and tells stories in only a way she can, but she can also make you think. I present the first "Thinking Blogger Award" to my dear cousin, Karen of "The Big Trade-Off". I love you, Karen!

2. I'd like to pass my next award along to someone I have only recently met through the new community of moms I am a part of "Moms of Grace". She is a young mother of three, one of whom suffers from Mitochondrial Myopathy and autism. You may have read and heard about her daughter throughout blogland: Emma Grace. Heather and Emma's story touches me and gives such hope. Heather is a true follower of Christ and has the utmost faith in Him and I feel priveledged to "know" her and be able to pray for her little girl. She inspires me and definitely makes me "think". You can visit her at Especially Heather.

3. I'd like to pass #3 onto someone who I have been following since around about my 125th post. I found out about her when she posted her 200th post. She had a "revolutionary" idea to commemorate her 200th post by attempting to get 200 comments. She succeeded and I decided to copy her and attempt to get 125 comments for my 125th post. I have followed her ever since and I am so happy I have. Her husband has been going through some health problems and she just recently started a new job and she is another person I admire greatly in her ability to just keep going! I think she'll inspire you, too. Her name is LaLa and you can find her at "Insight to LaLa's World"!

4. #4 goes to someone who I have been reading for quite some time, however to be completely honest, I'm not quite sure how we found eachother. But she always has something thought provoking to say, and she can also be very funny. I enjoy reading her and she is also responsible for making my cool header picture look like a cartoon! She deserves to be read because she has such great thoughts and conveys them in the most creative ways. Go read Yellow Mama at "OneStepUpFromStupid"!

5. And last, but not least, I would like to pass this award along to another person near and dear to my heart. She is an inspiration in the truest sense of the word. She has been through a mountain of stuff in the past few years. She has traveled the world. She has gotten two degrees. She worked and went to school at the same time while supporting herself while her husband was away. She lives thousands of miles away from her home, but it wouldn't feel like home without her here. She has given someone I love very much her unconditional love and stood by him through thick and thin. She has honored her wedding vows to the utmost and I am proud to call her my sister. The last award I am giving goes to my dear sister-in-law, who you all know as Sema of 28 Celsius.

And that concludes my part of this wonderful awards ceremony. I don't even know who started it, but it was a beautiful idea. I love everyone of my friends out in blog-land and everyone I read deserves this award!