I'm watching Clean House with Ali.  I love seeing the houses get cleaned and Ali loves seeing what flowers Neicy has in her hair.  While we were watching, she said, "That's what WE need - a yard sale!"  She is so right.

Today was our first day of tule (pronounced too-lee) fog.  It is a sure sign that fall is here and winter is on its way.  It is cold.  It is damp.  It seeps into you and you can't shake it unless you immerse yourself in hot water.  Even layering doesn't really help.

 

We were in the 80's a couple of days ago; it was in the 70's yesterday and I was hot for a good portion of the day.  Right now, at 10:44 am, my back porch shows 57 degrees and the sun has not yet shone, although I could see it valiantly attempting to burn through. 

 

I will be driving with my lights on all day, not because the auto manufacturer made it that way; but for safety's sake.

 

It is also Halloween.  We don't celebrate, but we may go to Alicia's school for Mystery Night.  She is asking to go.  This is the first year that the kids have really realized that they are the rare minority not trick-or-treating.  They wear costumes all year long, but they still want to wear them tonight.  It is so hard to be firm in my convictions.  They know why we don't observe Halloween, but it is hard when that is all you see in the stores and on TV.  I think it's just another test for us to pass.  If I'm not firm with them now, if I don't teach them and show them and bring them up in the way that we believe, what will happen to them when they are older and are outside of our home and have to make decisions without me there to tell them yes or no?  It is so important that we raise our children in the manner of our beliefs, our value system.  Every day I pray and I worry for my children.  What if they turn away?  What if they don't see the dangers of the outside world?  The enemy is working overtime on getting our children to turn their backs on God, and he is starting so early.  But this is food for another blog.

 

Back to the tule fog.  What a way to have Halloween.

I think the van is revolting against driving around with a naked wheel.  The alternator went out this weekend.  It started on Saturday evening; the van kept stalling when I would come to a stop.  That is not good.  Today my brother Shawn replaced it for me.  He had the old one checked; it was definitely bad.

 

I thought all was good, but the van is still stalling!  I don't know what to do now.  I am going to go to Kragen's tomorrow and have them check the new alternator and the battery and see if they're both okay.  I hope it's just one of the two and that there isn't something seriously wrong.  Shawn said if it isn't one of those things, then maybe it's a computer problem. I hope not!!  The alternator and the battery are both under warranty!!

 

I guess I'll find out tomorrow.  I just hope I can get Ali to school in the morning.

I have been a little bit bored today and found myself doing some web surfing.  I thought I would share some of my favorites with you.  In no particular order, of course.

 

Engrish.com  Japanese butchering the English language

YouTube  Video goodness that can keep one entertained for hours!

BeJane  DIY for women (men can learn, too)

Chest Candy T-Shirts  Mostly military, willing to do any shirt...

The Impossible Quiz  Much fun, great waste of time.

30 second bunny movies  Oh, so funny!

About Face  Backlash against the fashion and beauty industry.

SAHM and WAHM  Site for moms at home, or out of the home, with things you thought you'd never need?

My Heritage Face Recognition  Find out what celebrity you resemble, or who your child resembles most - mom or dad?

Answers in Genesis  Scientific answers found in the Bible.  Really cool site!

My Beautipage!  My moneymaker!!!  I had to plug it, I mean, come on!!!!!

For some odd reason, my ankle is really hurting tonight.  Hurting to the point of tears.  Hurting to the point of having to take medication.  I am not sure why it hurts so badly; I was busy but I don't feel that I overdid it.  My house looks horrible, but I got a week's worth of laundry washed and put away in its proper place.  The kitchen counter is clean (not the bar, but the other counter).  I picked up several things, but not all.

 

I don't know.  What a boring post, lol.  I think I'll go play a game.

i think I found my hubcap!!  It's lying alongside the freeway.  Unfortunately, it's in the fast lane and I can't just stop and get it.  I guess new hubcaps are still in order.

 

Meanwhile...I feel accomplished today.  I did laundry and changed the litter boxes, always a red letter day haha, but the big thing is that I cleaned the front porch!!  It is all cleaned up and swept and organized and pretty with decorative pumpkins.  I even swept the boards along the front of the house because they get so dusty!  I killed at least 3 black widows, one of them really small and I am so ready for the bug guys to come this month.  I am going to ask them to spray extra well on that porch.  EEEEEK!!!!!!

I lost a hubcap.  My front driver's wheel is ugly, discolored and bare.  Sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, the errant hubcap disappeared.  I retraced my route for the morning, because I think that it was there when I left the house, but it involved a lot of freeway driving and the hupcap is nowhere to be found.

 

I got new tires yesterday.  I had to replace the tire (in that same spot!) a couple of months ago when I got a nail in the wheel wall.  I didn't know there was a "wall"; it looked closer to the center to me, but apparently the tire shops won't fix a flat tire if it's got a nail within so many inches of the edge.  So, I got a new tire.  The technician told me at the time that I would be needing new tires on the rest of the van soon.  Fine, mine were a couple of years old.

 

I took it in yesterday because I had waited so long that the tread was really low and the van was starting to rock, and not in the bumper sticker way (You know, "If this van's arockin', don't come knockin'").   It rocked from side to side as I drove, making me nervous and my passengers a little bit motion sick.  After waiting for about 10 minutes, no exaggeration, for someone to wait on me, I was paying a lot of money for four new tires.  Apparently, their sale made it cheaper to buy four tires instead of three.  Whatever saves me money is how I felt about that!  There isn't a lot to do out by the tire store so Reece and I walked across the parking lot to Wendy's and got lunch.

 

The guy was so nice.  Once the van was finished, instead of parking it in the lot and me having to hike back over, he drove it over to Wendy's and brought my receipt with him.  Talk about great service!!  And now the hubcap is gone, never to be seen again.

 

I wonder if he's the guy who didn't put it back on tight enough.

I still can't find that version of the song "Anyway", but I did find Martina's version.  I've put it on here, just so you can hear the song.  Just imagine it a little less country.

I have a new favorite song!  It is called "Anyway" and sung by Katie Giguere.  Apparently, Martina McBride first sang it, but since I don't like country music, I have never heard her version.  Anyway....(hehe) I am going to post the lyrics here.  I can't seem to find a video of it, but I'll keep looking.

 

Anyway

You can spend your whole life building something from nothing
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream that seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

CHORUS
God is great, but sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray it doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it any, I do it anyway

This world's gone crazy and it's hard to believe
That tomorrow will be better than today
Believe it anyway

And you can love someone with all your heart for all the right reasons
And in a moment they can choose to walk away
Love 'em anyway

CHORUS

You can pour your soul out singing a song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it any, yeah praise Him anyway
I sing, I dream, I love, oh anyway
Anyway

What's worse than having a migraine?  Having a migraine at the same time that your 4-year old has a melt-down - for the 20th time that day.  That is what is worse than having a migraine.

 

I haven't had a migraine in awhile.   I wore perfume today; I wonder if that is what triggered it?  It's entirely possible, but I won't know unless I wear the perfume again.  I really hope that isn't it because the perfume smells so good!   It's BeautiControl's Falling for Her and it smells so good!  Yes, that was a shameless plug for BeautiControl.  Expect that a lot.

 

At first I was hoping that the pain in my head was going to be a regular run-of-the-mill headache that will be irksome, but not debilitating.  It became clearer, however, that this is a migraine.  I reacted sooner rather than later for a change and am currently waiting for my Imitrex to kick in.  I believe that I got it in the first hour so I should be good to go.  I hope so, because it's a beautiful sunny day and beautiful sunny days tend to hurt a head with a migraine in it.

 

Why was Reece having a melt-down?  Did I forget to tell you?  He was upset because Mike ate the candied apple that Reece said he didn't want...the other day.  He just now noticed.  To add to it, Mike decided to get Taco Bell for all of us for lunch.  Reece did not want Taco Bell.  He wanted Del Taco.  Taco Bell is closer and, frankly, we like it better.  Except, apparently, for Reece.  He segued nicely from crying about his caramel apple to crying about the perceived loss of a Del Taco meal.  This was not inducive to my migraine. 

 

Right now both kids are riding with dad on a Taco Bell run.  I hope it's going well for him.

Today has been a blah sort of day.  It started off normally enough; I got the kids up and ready to take Alicia to school.  We were late, however, because we got out the door a couple of minutes late and then the freeway became a parking lot as we neared Ceres.  I decided to get off the freeway and go a different route, something I do quite often.

 

That didn't work out since there was a car on fire in the middle of the very road I needed to use!!  As a result, I ended up going a more circuitous route and it really made a difference in how long it took to get to the school.  We drove into the parking lot a few minutes after the bell had rung.

 

On the way home I called the doctor's office as I had been having some pain in my left ear.  Actually, when I woke up this morning, it had developed into quite a bit of pain.  I couldn't get in to see my regular doctor, so I agreed to see another doctor who takes the overflow from the regulars.  I went in at 10 am with Reece in tow.  I have never been seen so quickly by any doctor in that group!  I was being called in before I even had a chance to get to the waiting room! 

 

Once the doctor came in, it was determined that I had some build-up in my ear (it was 100% blocked) and that would need to be cleared before she could see if there was anything else going on inside of there.  Reece proceeded to get a little scared when they brought in a jug of warm water and tubing with a long metal plunger at the end.  Then they stuck it in my ear and he got very worried!  I am always telling him not to stick things in his ears and here the doctor is sticking a pointed metal thing in mine.  The irrigating felt really good and things were starting to loosen.  I know this is icky; just bear with me!

 

Then she did something that good old Dr. Barker has never done!  She took another sharp instrument, this one plastic, and begin to scrape the inside of my ear.  This did not feel nearly as good as the water did and it was getting rather difficult to keep a happy face on for Reece, who was naturally more concerned about this smaller, sharper thing going into my ear.  She scraped and irrigated, scraped and irrigated and I was doing all I could not to jump through the roof.  Then she asked for another instrument, this one called an alligator clamp.  This one was about as thin as needles and very sharp at the end and she proceeded to stick that into my ear and pull at things.

 

Finally she decided that she had cleared my ear out enough and voiced concern that she would puncture my ear drum.  I, of course, was relieved that not only was she going to stop sticking sharp objects into my ear, but I could also hear and the original pain was now gone.  However, there was a whole new sort of pain that I was now experiencing and still am to this point.  She let me go home with instructions to use over-the-counter medications in a couple of days, you know, after the swelling and redness have had time to go down, and warned that I may feel a little nauseated.

 

She was not kidding.  I got home and my ear hurt more than before from being a bit sensitive and I felt like puking.  I asked Mike to go to the living room and watch Reece while I took a nap.  Thankfully he did so without argument and I took a nice nap for about an hour and a half.  Then I got up and went to a home and school meeting at Alicia's school and picked her up.

 

On the way home she began complaining that she isn't getting enough time with me; Reece gets all of the "good" time, and she wanted to do something special.  It's hard to think of special when you feel like hurling.  I stopped at Panera and got her a grilled cheese sandwich to go.  I also picked up a PB&J for Reece, a french toast bagel for Mike and a mochachip bagel for myself.  I do not want to know how many calories were in that thing, but man was it good!  I also got a green tea thinking that may help settle my stomach, but no such luck.

 

Now I get to try and pick up the house a little bit while the kids are sleeping.  I don't think I'm going to get much done.

 

Tomorrow better go a little more smoothly.

Last night Mike stopped at the store on his way home from school.  Both kids were still up way past their bedtime because for some odd reason they had both taken naps yesterday afternoon.  Of course, when Mike stops at the store he isn't picking up fruits and vegetables.  He came in with a bag full of junk, as usual.

 

He handed Reece a candy bar and eventually Reece looked down at the wrapper.  "It has my name on it!" he screamed.

 

It was a Reese's Whipped candy bar.

 

He was right; it did have his name on it.  He still had to share with his sister.  I'm just proud that he could look at the writing on the wrapper and recognize that it had his name, even if it is spelled differently.  My baby is growing up after all.