Flu or Cold Survey

Apparently it is my yearly turn to get the stomach flu.  We had a work Christmas dinner last night and at 9:30 pm just as we were leaving my stomach didn't quite feel right.  I knew that I ate more than I should have - the crab cakes, shrimp and marmalade sauce, toast and artichoke dip, salad (at least my dressing was low-cal with just salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon...I had to cut back somewhere...right???) Then the appetizers were followed by a whole wheat roll, garlic mashed potatoes, carrots and squash and a medium rare steak.  Dessert was a delicious strawberry cheesecake.  (I'm actually having trouble writing about food right now... my stomach still isn't quite right).

Anyways, by midnight I was hoping that the horrible feeling in my stomach was food poisoning and not flu...does anyone really hope for food poisoning???  At 12:30 as I thought of Brett's salmon that he had for dinner I bolted out of bed and raced for the bathroom.  Nothing like the thought of fish on a queasy stomach to make you rush out of bed hoping you get there in time.  After 7 rounds of throwing up which finished at 5:30 am I knew I was not fortunate enough to have food poisoning and instead managed to pick up the flu somewhere.  The ache in my back and head was increasing as was the guilt that I made muffins for my neighbor yesterday before I knew I had the flu (I said I silent prayer that the 6 times I washed my hands during the muffin-making process would be enough to keep them flu-free).

The whole time I was in the bathroom there was not a sound coming from my bedroom.  And by that I mean, not a single "are you okay....do you need anything...I'm so sorry"  In fact he admitted to my sister later today to having his pillow over his head when I was in the bathroom.  I mistakenly thought he was sleeping through my visits to the porcelain throne (don't eat whole wheat before the flu if you can at all help it).  He did redeem himself by driving kids to school and picking them up (I don't know how I would have dragged myself out of bed to do it seeing as it is 5:30pm and I am only getting out of bed now).

So my question to you is ... would you rather have the flu for a day than a cold for a couple of weeks?  Me personally, I hate throwing up so bad that I would pick the cold hands down!!!! 

Cautiously Optimistic

Today I had a bobbing planet on the bottom of my screen with some Apple updates and I noticed that two were related to iPhoto.  I figured... hey... why not download them and see if it miraculously resolves my problem (one of them had Camera Raw in the title so I had my fingers crossed).  Lo and behold I have been able to upload the photos from my 4MB card that I have been dying to load and I took a few more pictures to be sure it wasn't a card issue and it loaded again!!!! It's an iPhoto miracle!!!  I still need to do the whole song and dance of transferring Halloween pictures from my downstairs computer to my Mac and edit them but here are some of my pictures from October 31st...

First I had to get to the school for the Halloween Parade.  It was a really long wait before kids in costumes came along.  But that's okay.  It gave me time to take in the pre-parade show...

My pictures are better... no MY pictures are better!!!

Some parade observers were more awake than others...(I'm referring to the little guy only!!)

Some parade observers even dressed up in costumes themselves...

And some were still looking at their pictures 10 minutes later.... (gotcha ladies hahahahaha!!!!)

Due to the poor lighting I won't show you my parade photos... they're shameful.  Instead we'll move along to later in the day when I helped out in my 8 year old's class party.

I'm not quite sure about these expressions my neighbor has on his face during the pictionary game.  Perhaps he was hoping to be picked and wasn't or perhaps he was just being silly with his friend next to him.  Anyways,  I took these during the haunted pictionary game...

 

Later that day my 3 and 4 year-old and I went to pick the older boys up from school.

The big boys looked great in their costumes and had a blast at school at their parties and celebrating Halloween.  Now if I can just get through Christmas......

Well, all I can say is I hope that from now on I have no more camera/computer problems.  I know I take a lot of pictures but I realized over the past week how much I rely on my camera and my computer synching perfectly!!!!  My fingers are crossed!!!

I Love My Family

By some miracle I was able to load the few pictures I had on one card but I was pushing my luck when I tried to load the pictures from my other card.... no chance!!!!  My second call to Apple has produced no results and I must make an appointment downtown at the Gateway and try my luck with the experts there.

In the meantime I will share with you a few reasons why I love my family.  First, there is my youngest son who everyday manages to have at least one item of clothing that is on wrong.  I love that he tries to dress himself even though he rarely gets it right.  Usually he averages two items and many days he has all items on wrong.  We usually let it slide and allow him to go out just as he is with his shirt on backwards or inside out and his shoes on the wrong feet because I am often running around getting lunches made and backpacks ready and getting my own self dressed etc. etc. that it just isn't a high priority.  If he isn't naked, I'm fine with that.  But today's choice of how he was wearing his Sunday shirt just wouldn't fly past my radar....

Next we have my four-year-old who simply cannot help idolize Batman.  He was Batman for Halloween of course and I don't think he goes a day without mentioning Batman or pretending to be Batman.  Spiderman is a close second.  I love listening to him play pretend with his brothers especially because it has taken him such a long time to learn how to play with others.  It is still a challenge for him to learn to play cooperatively but he tries everyday.  He made me and his brothers laugh the other day when he came upstairs with this "outfit" which he called "midda turtle Batman" (midda meaning Ninja).

My six-year-old I am so proud of for allowing his latest tooth to come out on its own which I know was a challenge for him.  The 3 prior teeth he pulled out in fits of anger.  I love that he waited this time (the tooth fairy left him a note after the last one and asked him to let his tooth come out on its own... thanks tooth fairy!!!)

I love the way my eight-year-old has been excited about doing service this week when challenged by his primary teacher.  He wanted to be sure that he filled in all of his stars by today and kept asking what else he could do to help at home.  

Brett left to drive down to Lake Powell today and will arrive there late tonight.  He will work on the Lake Powell job from Monday until Wednesday or Thursday.  I hate it when he is gone but he surprised us all when we got home from church with notes for everyone.  He wrote me a few extra and I found them in hidden places.  I found one when I lifted the toilet seat even!  Others I found in the shower and when I turned down the covers of the bed.  He manages to tell me he loves me and make me smile with our ongoing jokes at the same time.  I sure love that man!!!  He can still surprise me from time to time.

Serenity

Serenity....

The credit for today's one word picture goes to Dede.  As I'm still wrestling with my computer/camera I was thinking of old pictures and this one came to mind.  I love this picture (obviously not because of my gorgeous hairdo!!) but because of the look of peace on my face.  It was a trip to Utah Lake with Dede and her family and at the time things were particularly chaotic with our boys.  It was, however, a great time and I was obviously feeling the peace of the moment, of the wonder of having good friends, the miracle of kids getting along, and a moment to sit down and enjoy the breeze.  Thanks for capturing this moment Dede!

Camera Woes Continue...

My camera and computer continue to battle one another and I cannot figure out what is wrong.  My old Kodak will upload pictures.  Yesterday's picture of my oldest is actually an old picture I found on the internal memory of the Kodak camera.  My Rebel has been refusing to load pictures onto my Mac since the weekend.  

I had Brett bring home a new firewire to see if that was the problem.  I thought I had it solved when I loaded some pictures I took of my youngest boy today but then when I put the other memorycard back into the camera it was a no go again.  I would assume it was a memory card problem except that over the weekend when I tried loading  pictures from the memorycard that successfully loaded today, it didn't work.  I am ready to pull my hair out!!!!  So still no Halloween pictures of my kids to show off.  Only a knot in the pit of my stomach and another phonecall to make to Apple.  My last phonecall lasted 45 minutes (obviously without success!!)  Good thing I have Applecare!!!

Well, I did manage to upload SOME photos so for today's blog my entries for Carin's challenge are a duet of photos that I thought went well together....

CUTE...

CREEPY...

I don't have the talent that others have with Photoshop or Elements so I can't add words to my pictures yet for Carin's challenge this month so my word for the picture below will have to be separate from the picture but here goes.....

HAPPY

A Haunted Halloween

Due to a computer or camera glitch I am delayed with my cute children's halloween costume pictures.  I do, however, have the pictures of my brother and sister-in-law's souped up haunted halloween house.  My brother-in-law Jeff has admitted that Halloween is by far his favorite holiday and I think that as you scan down these pictures you will agree that he certainly enjoys this holiday.  

The front yard was covered with a graveyard and skeletons of all kinds.

A ghostly figure moved up and down her hand outstretched....

In the backyard were more creepy characters....

The creepy character in this case is the spider .... of course!!!

Neighbors get in on the act to help create the spooky ambiance...  I'm referring to the teenager in the mask... not the skeleton in the casket.  Although if any neighbors are reported missing Jen might have to send some of Jeff's co-workers to question Jeff.

Family are also enlisted to scare up some fun.  

Most are suitably scared.  Cody would only get his picture taken with the mummy if Brett had an iron grip on him.  I was even scared and warned the masked teenager not to sneak up on me while I was taking pictures.

These pictures of course don't do justice to all the lights, sounds and motion to all of the figures.  Kudos to all the hard work that went into this year's haunted yard Jeff and Jen!!!!