This and That

Today I have to put away my contacts for an ENTIRE WEEK. That's right. All week long I will be doning my glasses and preparing my eyes for their ultra special appointment on Friday. In Irving. With the Opthamalogist. To see if I qualify for PRK. Again.

It's not SO awful wearing my glasses, it's just that I get so used to seeing out of my contacts that it's hard to go back and forth. Plus falling asleep with your glasses on hurts. Not to mention that little fingers like to poke glasses and the dishwasher makes them fog up if you open the door to soon.

I talked to BOTH my sisters AND my mom yesterday. Kinda crazy. My youngest sister had a nasty car accident on Thursday (not her fault) so she was telling me all about her black eye and the idiot driver that doesn't know how to brake. Here's the carnage that is left of her car.

Have I mentioned that my baby boy turns THREE tomorrow? Just checking.

Our babysitter was going to do his first Thursday night watch of the boys this past Thursday but the weather was getting bad so MSU cancelled all their evening classes and Stuart got to stay home with them. So instead we asked him to come back Friday night so that Stuart and I could go out on ANOTHER date. It was glorious. Dinner. Adult beverages. Walmart. Starbucks. What more can you ask for?

Tyson keeps calling the babysitter a girl. Because he has longish hair. It makes me laugh. But I do try to correct him. But our boys will NOT have any sort of long hair. Ever. (I probably shouldn't have written those words down because I know that they will come back to haunt me.)

It snowed again on Friday so we have been stuck in the house again.

I took PTO from work tomorrow so that I won't have to sleep all day on Tucker's birthday. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself since I don't have to go back to work till Friday. I might actually be a real mom for a week and get everything done in a semi-timely manner.

Stuart is supposed to go to Home Depot today and by sheet rock. It's now been two weeks since ANY work has been done to the boys' bathroom. Ahem.

And to appease the masses, here's what I do when the boys want to play outside and I really don't care to dress them:

I Miss This

But not my crazy swollen face.

Can you believe he's going to be THREE on Monday???

Blind

I have been blind pretty much my entire life. It all started in the 1st grade when I failed the plain 'ole eye exam at school and the school nurse sent home a nice little letter saying that I was to report to the eye doctor to get my eyes checked. This is what I came home with.

Gigantic, PINK glasses.

You may laugh.

Anywho, that was roughly 23 years ago. And in those 23 years my eyes have gotten worse, and worse, and worse. Today, I'm legally blind without glasses or contacts. Which really isn't saying that much since a large portion of the population is. But seriously, I am BLIND.

Stuart had PRK done in January 2007 and every since he got to throw away his glasses and wake up able to see I have really wanted to have eye surgery done as well.

Yesterday was the day.

The day I was going to find out whether or not I was a good candidate.

The verdict:

NOT.

Ugh.

After taking some measurements, it was found that my corneas are 530 micrometers (?) and after crunching the numbers they would have to remove 135 micrometers, leaving me with only 395 micrometers. The hitch is that they don't want to leave any less than 400 micrometers so that IF further surgery was needed it could be done.

Well, fuyee.

He also told me that he had never seen a patient with as much nearsightedness AND astigmatism. Yea for me!

I left the appointment feeling really sorry for myself. Stupid eyes.

But when I came home, Stuart convinced me to call some other eye centers and get a second opinion. Since the center I went to was the only one here in the Falls, I had to broaden my search.The first (and closest) center is in Irving, TX and I made an appointment.

Here's hoping I'm not going to be blind forever.

Corrected

My grandfather sent me an email yesterday.

I stand corrected.

Apparently I don't know how to read labels on pictures. The cowboy picture was indeed NOT him. It was my great Uncle Wes. Yahtzee.

So as not to confuse anyone any further and to prove that I DO know who my grandfather is, I give you more pictures.

His Navy days

With his girls (he had four, can you imagine the damage to his checking account?)

More recent picture with NeeNee

And if you were having a hard time picking out my mom in the family picture, this is her.

Cowboys

GranGran (otherwise known to the world as my grandfather)

seated on the left

Apparently there really are Cowboys in Texas

Friday, Friday (sing to the tune of "Monday, Monday")

I have to work tonight. And tomorrow. And Sunday. Blah.

Apparently the ER has been obnoxiously busy the past week. I hope the crazies stay home this weekend. Probably not.

A house at the end of our street burned down last night. Stuart called me on his way to school and told me to go outside and look left. Sure enough there was a huge pillar of smoke complete with fire trucks, ambulances and lots of neighbors gawking. Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.

Stuart got a call yesterday from a brokerage firm that he applied to a couple of months ago. Yahoo!

He had to fill out a little questionnaire for homework in one of his classes; one of the questions was what was his occupation. Answer-Stay At Home Dad. Ha!

Tucker got two presents in the mail yesterday. And they were already wrapped. Score. This just finalizes that facts that 1) my baby boy is almost THREE. Yes, three. Tres. Tre. One, two, still-wearing-diapers-and-has-no-desire-to-potty-train-yet-three. And 2) we really need to pick out a present for him.

Tyson is not going to handle his little brother getting presents very well.

I read a book about food yesterday. Eh. I know what I am eating is bad. I know.

I re-framed some pictures yesterday and hung them in our bedroom. I LOVE pictures. But I need to print and frame more of Tucker. Stuart and I need to take more pictures of us.

I had to go into the garage to get nails to hang the pictures that I re-framed and found the title to our van. Outside. Not in the filing cabinet. Outside.

I cooked again last night. The boys ate almost everything and had seconds on some.

I'm about to balance the checkbook.

Then at about 10, I'm going to try and go back to sleep so that I can function tonight.

Here's a little something I found while cleaning up some space in my pictures folder.

Oh, I love this man!

P.S. It's Stuart when he was about 4/5ish.

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Mooses

From Nonna

Came in the mail yesterday

My SIL rescued them and thought the boys should have them

Home Improvement, Meet Stuart Doss

Now I have to tell you that I am NOT a handy person. I do know how to change a light bulb (as long as it doesn't require standing on too tall of an object because me and heights are not good friends), locate a screwdriver and turn a screw in/out of a toy, replace batteries-you know, small, easy tasks that I can't get into too much trouble with.

Stuart, however can do ANYTHING. And I do mean ANYTHING. I have no idea where this man stores all the information that is needed in order to rebuild an engine, fix the plumbing to the dishwasher, reconfigure QRT on the computer and cook, all at the same time. Oh, and have I mentioned that yesterday was his first last day of the last spring semester of school that he will ever have to take? Yeah, the end is near folks. The end is near.

So back to fixing things.

When we bought our house in September of 2008 (good grief, we have lived in this house for a year and a half) we knew that there were several things that needed fixing/updating but that was ok since we were buying a 90 year old house and Stuart can do anything.

Fast forward to this weekend. Up until now we haven't done much of anything. We have done some demo-we have to rip out the cabinets above the refrigerator in order for our 20th century refrigerator to fit in the space provided, we had to rip out the stove/cabinet combo in order to fit our new oven that can hold a cookie sheet, we ripped up the carpet in the living room and dining room to reveal real wood floors but the termites had some fun with some of the planks so we are probably going to just re-carpet in the future, we ripped out all the carpet in the attic, and we have ripped out a plethora of plant life around the house. And by we, I fully mean Stuart. I just stand there and watch. Or whine. Or complain.

This weekend however, Stuart decided it was high time to start some of the bigger renovations that we need to accomplish. Starting with the boys' bathroom

Here's the bathroom the day that we moved in. Obviously it has been decorated since then but it's a good before picture.

The demo begins.

Measure twice, cut once.

This is today. Oh boy.

Notice the beautiful woodwork for the drop ceiling that Stuart is going to install.

Stuart assures me that this is not going to take long. Right.

Almost Due

With Tucker

Back in 2007

And yes, Marci's stomach was bigger than mine when she had Kate. :)

Zephaniah 3:17

The LORD your God is with you,

he is mighty to save.

He will take great delight in you,

he will quiet you with his love,

he will rejoice over you with singing.

Even Mooses Need to be Tucked In

What goes thru his mind?

Tyson: Mommy, why do we always listen to Positive, Encouraging K-Love Wichita Falls, TX?*

Me: Because we love it and it has music about God.

Tyson: But we always listen to it.

Me: Yes we do. Do you have a problem with that?

Tyson: {Hmm}

Me: What is it?

Tyson: Well, does Uncle Bama** (President Obama) listen to Positive, Encouraging K-Love Wichita Falls, TX?

Me: I'm not sure buddy. But if he doesn't he should, huh?

Tyson: Does Jesus listen to Positive, Encouraging K-Love Wichita Falls, TX?

Me: Absolutely.

Tyson: Does Baby Kate listen to Positive, Encouraging K-Love Wichita Falls, TX?

Me: Uh-huh.

Tyson: Maybe we can go to Baby Kate's house again and drive to Chick-fil-A.

Me: I think that's a wonderful idea.

*He has always referred to K-Love as "Positive, Encouraging K-Love Wichita Falls, TX." It's so cute and I always chuckle when he says it.

** No, Tyson does not think that President Obama is his uncle. Let me just clear that up. But during the election he started saying "Uncle Bama" and we tried to correct him to no avail. So now he's simply Uncle Bama. He also call Oklahoma, Uncle Homa. So there you have it.

In totally unrelated news

I had a stressful dream last night.

I mean, I have lots of stressful dreams; you know, the ones where you wake up and have to think really really hard about whether they were a dream or real and then go about your day mad at your husband because in your dream he did something bad and whether or not it was a dream you still need to be mad at him because he was responsible whether in your dream or not. Yeah, those dreams.

But last night I dreamed about work.

Which, again, is not that unusual. I do work. So it only makes since that I would dream about the thing that takes me away from my husband and kids and makes me feel like an utterly terrible, horrible mom since I am not home to cuddle and tickle and play and help. And then when I am home I am torn between the aforementioned items and laundry, dishes, cleaning and pretending that I didn't just work 48 hours in 4 days.

But that's neither here nor there.

SO this dream.

I don't really remember much about it except that I kept waking up in a panic and realizing that I was just dreaming and then the second that I would fall back asleep, I was right back where I left off in my dream and my heart rate would skyrocket and all I wanted to do was leave.

Seriously.

Not good.

Yesterday I also completed 8 loads of laundry. That's washing, drying, folding and putting away.

I know, I'm a super human.

It's ok.

You can say it.

Then, in my I'm home and therefore must get everything in order before I go back to work Wednesday night funk, I cleaned out Tucker's red toy bin. So.much.fun! AND I found a few missing toys parts.

To top it all off, I cooked.

Take a breath.

No really.

Take a breath.

I

cooked.

I thought the boys eyes were going to bug out of their heads.

And Stuart.

Well, Stuart did not know quite what to say other than, "can I have more please."

It was a good night.

Well, except for the whole panic-driven dream thing.

At least he's not breaking glass closet doors

Daddy...

...needs a break.

Prayers

Please say a prayer for the Holbrook family.

I don't have many details but Jeremy's (a good friend of mine from high school) father is currently passing away from lung cancer. He was transported to the hospital on Thursday and family has been called in to say goodbye. Wesley will be leaving behind a wife, children and his first grandchild (born 1/1/10).

Date Night Top 5

1. Being able to take more than 5 minutes to eat.
2. Only having to worry about myself spilling.
3. Being able to sit at a table with only 2 chairs.
4. Having a conversation that didn't involve Legos or Buzz Lightyear.
5. Not having to worry about Tucker taking off his shoes and making himself at home.

Ahhhhh, it was a good date night.

In Case of Emergency

Do you know what this is?

This is our "In Case of Emergency" information for Tyson, Tucker, Turbo and Scout.

It has never been used/needed.

But I've had it made and hanging on the pantry door. Just in case.

Well "just in case" is TONIGHT.

Yup, Stuart and I are going on a DATE.

Alone.

Without the kids.

Like normal adults.

Like normal, married adults.

And we have a babysitter.

An honest-to-goodness-pay-him-when-we-get-home babysitter.

EEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK!

We met Mr. Babysitter last night and the boys took to him very well (he likes Legos).

Seeing as how we are going to start using him every other Thursday when Stuart and I have a conflict of schedules, we decided that tonight would be a good dry run to see if he was really ok and that the boys really do like him.

Cross your fingers, ladies.

Stuart and I have a date!

Hats

Every boy needs a good hat.

And maybe every aunt too.

The Late, Great Christmas Post

So, it's been a busy couple of weeks. We have quite literally done more in the month of December than pretty much all year long. And since my dear husband insisted on quitting his job, thus forcing me into the work force, all these happenings have been scheduled around around my rotating schedule.

It all started with the Rock Crawl for Kids, a trip to Yukon, and then the boys and I took a detour to visit my sister and their favorite 1 year old cousin.

After taking a brief respite at home (and a few more hours on the time clock at work), we ventured down to San Antonio for some much needed Mimi and Peepaw time (i.e. my parents). We left on Sunday, December 20 which means that we got to celebrate my birthday down south. My mom surprised me with a Susan Perry original cake and we all stuffed our faces at Alamo Cafe. Tucker and Peepaw found a new use for tortilla holders and Tyson made cookies with Mimi. Stuart fixed a couple of things around my parent's house and we generally lounged and ate Christmas treats.

Unfortunately the work whistle was blowing and we had to head back home.

Have I mentioned that I had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the day after Christmas AND the day after that?

We woke up on Christmas Eve morning to the beginnings of snow and watched as our house became a cocoon of warmth. Stuart shoveled snow for an hour and a half in order to get our van out and drive me to work.

Santa did indeed come to the Doss house and left presents for two good little boys in the closet. (Side note-we didn't put up a tree this year. I know, I know. Shame on us. For the first 5 years of our marriage we had a fake tree. Two years ago we donated our tree to Stuart's flight. Last year we got a real tree. I loved the real tree for many reasons: 1) it smelled FANTASTIC, 2) we didn't have to store it, and 3) it looks so much more REAL than a fake tree. We really had all the intentions of getting another real tree this year but one day led to another and then next thing we knew we were going out of town and then it was Dec 23 and then the snow pretty much shut down our city and then it was Christmas Eve and I worked and somehow Stuart had the grand idea of hiding the presents in the closet. It worked brilliantly and the kids still had small trees in their rooms so you can't completely call me lacking in the tree department.)

After much ripping and shredding of paper, the boys were on present/toy overload so I left Stuart in charge of the chaos and headed to bed



Before we knew it, December 28th was upon us and thus marked the 7th year of wedding bliss for this little couple. We had grand plans for getting a babysitter and hitting the town in style and alone, but loo, that never materialized either. (Have I mentioned that we have NEVER had a babysitter? At least not one that we have paid to come to our house and watch our children while we act like semi-normal, adult, married people. We have left our children a handful of times with married friends so that we can oh, go to the ER with gall stones or go the ER with a non-moving back or go to the ER with more gallstones [all me by-the-way]) So we dragged our old selves to Chili's (a.k.a the Eggplant Store) plus kids and celebrated with several of Wichita Falls' finest and the "2 for $20" deal. Yes, we're frugal and I ain't afraid to admit it.

Somehow we made it thru my working 4 days in a row PLUS Christmas without anyone loosing a limb, so I call that a win.

But we didn't all remain unscathed.

The EXACT SAME stomach bug that hit our family last year at THE EXACT SAME TIME decided to grace our house once again with it's presence. Stupid stomach bug. It began on the 30th with Tucker, jumped to Tyson on the 31st and then hit me square in the face (while at work I might add) on the 1st. What a way to ring in the new year.

So there you have it. My late, great Christmas post. Laden with links and scattered with some pictures. (oh and did I also mention that my adoring husband ERASED all the pictures on my computer from April 2009-present?????? Yeah, it's a VERY sore subject. All I can say is thank you heavens for Shutterfly and my amazing uploading at the end of every month skills. Too bad this happened at the end of December BEFORE I had uploaded December pictures. Oh and also thanks to Facebook and the fact that I actually uploaded some of my December pictures there too. Unfortunately for Stuart I DID NOT however upload any of the videos that I had taken from April 2009-present, so they are tragically gone forever. And to answer your question, yes, he is going to hear about this F-O-R-E-V-E-R.)

AHEM.

Happy 2010!

2009: A Picture Review

January

February

Tucker turns TWO!

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

Tyson turns FOUR!

October

November

December

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8

Here's to a FANTASTIC 2010!