Last one before Disney

I am not sure if I will be updating while we are away or not...
I am going to finish the last post of the year off with highlights again.
We went to see the Zoolights at Lincoln Park Zoo tonight. It wasn't too cold but it was oh so crowded. They do an awesome job though.
We had a successful shoe shopping adventure to find Ellie shoes for the trip.
The kids finally finished decorating the gingerbread house at Mom and Dad's today.
Ellie and I went for a market research discussion on lockers yesterday - not bad, just over an hour - $50 for me and $25 in product for Ellie.
We stopped into the service station in Palatine that has this huge multi-level train layout for the holidays.
Ellie has discovered face time on her itouch which kind of makes it into a phone.
We went to see Chip wrecked with the kids and T on Tuesday morning. The movie was slow to begin because they were having trouble so we got a free movie coupon on our way out. Cute movie.
Haven't been too into after Christmas shopping this year - I guess partially because we need nothing. We did do some shopping at Dominick's and Jo and I made a run to Target.
Hope everyone has a splendid new years. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

We are going to chocolate pretzels?

Maybe we were dealing with too little sleep or maybe we need more practice on the riddle/clue thing...
Christmas morning we told the kids we couldn't go downstairs until 8AM. We made coffee and we were about to let the kids start opening but the video camera was left on and had no battery charge. We told the kids to patiently watch Frosty the Snowman while the battery charged. I think the kids pretty much got all the higher up wish list items.
We waited for Mom and Dad and Dean to come over before we found the hidden clue box. Ellie said it looked like Kitty had gotten into it - I guess I need to be more Martha Stewart next time with my wrapping. They got most of the clues but when they went to read them back and pull the pretzels they just kept saying, In 6 days we are going to chocolate pretzels? Ok, who is on the bag of pretzels, where are they from? Screaming commenced.
We had a nice breakfast together and then dad helped Nick set up his new Polar Express train set and Dean played some new games with Ellie. We started a fire and it was just a laid back kind of day. We lounged about and charged up presents that needed to be charged to be able to be played with or used.
I got the best gift ever - gift card to the car wash. Mom, Dad and Dean left and we continued of laziness. Ellie and I tried out some new wii games. Ellie really likes the Disney All Star game. Our neighbors brought over homemade egg rolls just as our stomachs were starting to talk to us. We pulled out the sofa bed and all cuddled together to watch Polar Express.
This morning was another lounge about. We eventually got dressed and I talked with Rob about the cabinet I wanted him to build at the top of the stairs. I took the kids to the library to pick up Disney books and Ellie got a couple to read over break. We stopped in at Salvation to see if we could find any cheap Disney shirts for the trip. Amazingly, the cabinet was built by the time we got home. Needs to be leveled out (our floor is unlevel at the top of the stairs) and trim work done - I need to decide what color to paint it.
Ellie and I did some Just Dance while Nick and Rob cleaned out the garage. We went to pick Tony up for a sleepover. Dad was nice enough to try to find the suitcase I wanted to borrow for our trip. We picked T up and were on our way. We went up to Vernon Hills to the Cuneo Museum to drive through the Winter Wonderland. It is about an hour drive through Christmas lights - very entertaining for the kids because they have just about all the Disney and cartoon characters. We had a quick dinner and gelato at Marianos and then drove through. The kids asked if we could do it again when we finished.
On the way home we stopped at Goodwill. My proudest moment of the year...Ellie had Tony in a cart and I had Nick. We were both looking through racks. I come over to where she is and she pulls out of her cart a North Face fleece and says - it is only $6 that will be great to flip! I don't think I have stopped smiling since. She also had Hanna pulled - I love that girl. It was a great stop. I picked up Mini Boden shirts for Ellie to wear and then we will flip, the North Face jacket, a Disney t-shirt and sweatshirt for her and a few t-shirts for Nick.
We stopped in at Dominick's to see if anyone wanted anything special for breakfast tomorrow. Instead of food shopping we clearance shopped. The boys each got a car and Ellie got a craft kit. I picked up a couple pairs of holiday replacement socks and coffee creamer. We came home and got PJs on and pulled the sofa bed out. The kids played for a bit before we got ready for bed. Polar Express was on again so we watched the first 20 minutes of that to settle down and then off to sleepy land.
I cannot believe we pulled the Disney secret off, thanks to all of you for not telling. Ellie is still amazed that we knew this long and didn't tell. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Merry Christmas

Whirlwind few days here. Again, just a spewing of highlights because Santa still has some work to do. Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Mom, Dad, the GGs, Jo, Ole, T & M. Mom had a supreme spread of food...something for everyone. There were some very awesome presents and some definite checks off of Santa's list.
Jo and the boys came over yesterday to help bake cookies for tonight. The kids mostly played while I mixed and baked the cookies. Jo made a batch of sugar cookies and frosted and decorated them with the kids. We had lunch and it was a fun time. After all was said and done... 7 different types of cookies, 2 bar cookies & 2 chocolate barks.
I took Ellie shopping last night to get her present to Nick. It was nice to have some time with just the two of us. Ellie was very careful about her choices for Nick. Nick and Rob wrapped gifts while we were out.
It was party central on Thursday. It was both the kids last day of school before break. I dropped Nick off and came home and wrapped the kids presents...it was my last chance to be alone. Ellie's school party was chaotic but very nice. I really felt our efforts were appreciated. The kids loved the crafts we decided on and they really liked making their snow globe cards with tons of glitter.
We rode the CTA holiday train on Thursday night. We picked up Dad and then Tony and went for our ride to Howard and then back. On the first train the elf led a sing-a-long and we sang all the favorite Christmas tunes. The kids even got buttons. The return ride was way crowded and we were just lucky to get seats. We stopped at Starbucks and had a warm treat.
Cannot wait for Christmas morning and the big reveal of the Disney plans. I made a box that the kids will pull numbered clues/riddles from. The clues/riddles will end up spelling out - In 6 days we are going to Disney. The Disney part is official Disney chocolate covered pretzels. I cannot wait for the reaction.
I hope all my family and friends have a wonderful Christmas (Hanukkah) with their loved ones. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Where is the pause button?

Everyone knows Christmas is December 25th...every year but the clock seems to have sped up. I am highlighting again because I cannot re-tell 3 days. I majorly worked on projects today. I got 3 almost done - they just need finishing touches. I tried to felt soap this afternoon. This will not be a new hobby. Didn't turn out very pretty.
Have I mentioned how much I love Kohls? I love Kohls! Besides the 30% off coupon I had, they sent me a coupon via email this morning for an extra $10.00 to spend for Christmas. I went shopping while Nick was at school. I replaced out knives. Once again, a set that has been around a number of years. I found a real nice set with the knives I prefer and it ended up being $85.00 cheaper with my coupons.
I was able to finish up shopping (I hope) for Christmas with Nick this morning. We were at VonMaur and I looked through my felting inspiration table (this is where I found my scarf idea last year). They had adorable buttons...for $20.00. I heard Mom's voice in my head say, "you could make that."
Skokie Salvation totally remodeled and I am in love. It was a pleasure shopping there yesterday. I found some very cute sweater vests to felt. I scored big at Morton Grove yesterday. I found these Fisher Price smart cycle cartridges on a key chain without a price and when I got to the register the lady threw them in the bag because I am there all the time...turns out they are about $7-$10 a piece on ebay (I have 6).
Rob came home from work on Monday and was home yesterday too. Don't know what he has but I hope none of us get it.
Christi came over Monday and we worked for the majority of the morning and afternoon on the holiday party. We painted the snowmen heads and glued on ribbons. We assembled candy bags to decorate the snowman sundaes. We got together all the ingredients for snowman soup. We got to catch up and visit.
I was able to get all Ellie's and Nick's school gifts off and out of the living room. Now I just need Rob to get his co-worker gifts out of there.
We had cooking club on Monday night. We chocolate and caramel dipped pretzel rods. We made alfredo sauce for noodles. The girls played for a bit, we had dinner and they did homework. We finished with cake in a mug...recipes needs some tweaking.
I have two days left and I have about 10 cookie recipes to make and a few more things to bake. I have my projects to finish. I have all my wrapping to do still. I guess instead of sitting on the computer at 2AM I should be doing some of these things.
Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Busy Weekend

This will be a mosaic post...I am not going to try to re-create each of the past couple days.
I got our Christmas cards addressed, stamped and mailed today.
We went to our church Tableaux service tonight and then to dinner afterwards.
We baked cookies yesterday for a cookie exchange. The kids and I went and got to visit with old friends we don't see nearly enough.
Rob took care of our shoe storage issue. When I went nuts cleaning the floors awhile ago we started taking shoes off at the front door. Problem is there isn't room for more than 4 pairs of shoes in the tiny hallway. I drew a rough sketch of what I wanted and when we came home from the cookie exchange I had shoe storage. It is seriously awesome - 3 shelves and a top that I was able to relocate our key basket to and will also serve nicely for mail and purses. I painted it this morning and picked up a carpet at Menards to line the shelves for wet shoes.
Bargain shopped with Mom, Dad and Nick on Friday. We took care of a Groupon coupon Mom had. We had lunch at Caputo's and did some shopping. We hit a candy store.
Ellie and Rob had a date night on Friday. They had dinner, did some shopping and went to the Niles North basketball game. Nick and I also had a date night - we went out for dinner and back here to watch Beauty and the Beast.
I've been able to work on my craft projects a bit. I found that a rotary cutter works fabulous for cutting felted wool...I also found that a rotary cutter is extremely sharp. Lets just say I have a few bandages on my fingers.
We stopped by Mom and Dad's last night for the kids to catch up on the advent calendar clue hunt.
I got all the teacher presents (40) for Nick's preschool packaged up. Ellie's (7) and Rob's co-worker (6) gifts packaged. I still have a couple more things to finish up for the week.
Christi is coming over tomorrow so we can work on Ellie's holiday class party prep.
After seeing how quickly my rough drawing turned into the best thing ever - I started thinking of the possibilities. Next, I want Rob to make a shelving unit for the top of the stairs. I am not sure what I would use it for yet but it is un-taped space. Possibly for shoes upstairs or books. I also am looking at a built in seating couch in the back room. Running along the entire wall with storage under - this will replace our crappy couch and seriously give us about 5 more feet of seating.
I am feeling most excellent. A little back pain but I think that was all related to holding Nick through the service tonight. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Just the important stuff

I didn't want to blog last night because I wanted to be able to blog tonight with doctor news.
I went for my visit this morning with Dr. Marsh. I am now a hand draw for blood because my veins are too tiny on the inside of my arm, fun, fun, fun! I have to tell you, it took about 2 minutes to fill one vial of blood. Squeezing and releasing to pump the blood through faster. I had a 9:40 appointment...labs not done until after 10:00 and not in to see the doctor until 10:45.
Margaret met me and told me the good news that my white blood count had rebounded slightly, putting me into normal range. Woohoo. All my vitals were perfect, too. Dr. Marsh came in and went through everything again. Basically, my red blood cells must be gelatinous and cause the white blood cells to stick to them causing an inaccurate white blood count on my labs. I took a steroid on Wednesday night to shake the red blood cells up and thus shake the white blood cells free for an accurate reading. He did his examination and then gave me the most excellent news that I have been promoted to 6 month recall. I don't have to go back for blood or scans until June.
Everything else in the past couple days seems very trivial now except Ellie's concert last night. Ellie preformed with the Panther band for the first time. They played a few songs. She also got to preform a dance they learned in gym class. It was nice to see her so excited about this.
Other than that...lots of thrift shopping in the past couple days. I am trying to re-build my inventory but have managed to fill our closets instead. I guess that eventually trickles down to inventory. Major finds - I scored a North Face jacket, a Columbia jacket, some sweaters for felting and some things for the kids.
Trying to finish up holiday gifts for both the kids to take to school next week. Need to finish working on my craft projects. I am feeling greatly relieved about the news I got today. Google bone marrow biopsy and you will know why. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body and the new normal, Tree

Crazy cooking club

I should have posted last night because my brain is hitting major speed bumps right now. We will work totally backwards tonight.
I just got finished boxing and bagging up about 30 items to ship out tomorrow. Grand total for my 1 week of sales...almost $900.00. If only I could keep a great stock of clothes - I would never have to do anything but shop again. I had a couple very nice people who purchase quite a few things from me. It was neat to hear their stories. One lady has 7 grandchildren she was buying for.
Best news of the night...I put batteries in my Speak and Spell and it powers up. I bought it about 2 years ago at Salvation for $5.00. It was pretty awesome - mint in box with manuals. Looks like I can flip that for between $60-$80.
We had cooking club tonight and I found a couple recipes on different websites to try. We made s'mores cups, cinnamon bun cake and baked zucchini and squash sticks. Christi and Su'nana came to drop Catherine off and stayed a bit to visit. Su'nana and Nick were playing well and Rob asked her to stay. The s'mores cups are a definite keeper. The cake was okay -the picture looked way better. Rob and I liked the baked zucchini sticks but the girls not so much.
This afternoon, Nick and I joined Mom and Dad for a Costco run. I was able to pick up some fruit for dinner and I bought a new camera. I have had a couple people question my pictures on my auctions and I figure it might be the camera. This morning Nick and I did a Target run. I picked up my prescription and we did shopping for cooking club.
Yesterday we were on for Sunday school at church. It was an ambitious project for 4 and 5 year olds. They needed to design and make the 3 wise men as ornaments for the big tree. Ellie's group made felt wreaths. She was so inspired she has started making a couple more at home.
We went over to Mom and Dad's house early to try to get a family picture for their cards. It is now secret, we are a bit nuts. Mom has these Shriner hats that we have been wearing for her pictures for the past 5 years. The sun was shining so brightly it made pictures very difficult in their sun room. We managed to get 3 cameras going and find an array of good shots.
We stayed for dinner and the kids got to catch up on a week worth of advent clues and goodies. I was able to get a bit more cutting done for my project. I hung the garland on the tree for Mom and then we came home.
Saturday was another day of shuffling. We started out at the log cabin church. They were having their holiday fair. It has become a special stop each year. The kids got to visit with Santa and make their lists known, again. They had 3 rooms of crafts for the kids to make. We looked through the craft/vendor fair before coming home.
Ellie had a birthday party to go to in the afternoon. We dropped her off and then Nick and I went over to Mom and Dad's house. I worked on my project while Mom worked on hers. Dad and Nick played trains and watched holiday movies. We went to pick Ellie up in the evening. I dropped the kids at home and ran to Michaels for some supplies and picked up dinner on the way home.
Gotta love the month of December - always something to do. Oh, I have to share...I found my new favorite website. It is called pinterest.com and it is a virtual bulletin board that people have pined ideas to. This is where I found all my recipes for cooking club from. I had sleep issues last night. Around 2:30AM when I was thinking about going up to bed, I heard huge falling things upstairs. I raced up the stairs and the kids were both in bed. Rob had tripped over the broom that was by our bedroom door and had plunged forward and knocked over our garbage can. Needless to say, it took me about another 3 hours to calm down enough to even try to go up to bed. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

Baby it's cold outside

I am going to work backwards because I doubt I will be able to remember Wednesday.
We had a very laid back morning here. We stayed in our PJs until about 1:00PM. Nick was watching a Christmas video and I was working on a craft project. I got all my prep done and was able to assemble one but I am not fond of the end product and will need to do some tweaking.
We ventured out this afternoon to run into the post office to pick up mailing envelopes and boxes. We had lunch and braved Walmart to look for cookie mix for Mom. We came home and I was able to pack up about a dozen envelopes to ship out and complete another craft project.
Rob had to work a game in Highland Park tonight and he asked Ellie to come with him. It left a date night for Nick and me. Rob and Ellie had dinner at Walker Brothers and then had the added luck of it being winter fest in town. There were ice sculptures and carving, live reindeer, face painting and more. Nick and I went to see Muppets. It was cute. There were some adults with some very hearty laughs. We all had a good night. We came home and I got Nick to sleep and then Rob and Ellie came home.
Yesterday we were over at Mom's house to play with Tony. Both Nick and Tony were acting like they needed naps. I got a Matteo fix while Jo was at her doctor appointment. We had lunch and the kids played with legos, trains, cars and more.
I packed up about a dozen ebay things to be shipped. I love having the postage scale at home. I love, love, love it. I cleared the counter off downstairs and have a great system down now. I can print postage right off ebay and it comes right out of my paypal account. I just need to get it to the post office to mail - awesome.
We had breakfast for dinner and the kids both helped me cook. We made eggnog french toast, sausages and fruit. It was very good and it is always a plus when we don't have leftovers to put away. The kids had their showers and then we got them into bed.
I was supposed to have a coffee date with Christi on Wednesday but she wasn't feeling well and we postponed. I dropped Nick at school and did some produce shopping. I returned something to OfficeMax and then came home. I was able to get about 40 more things listed on ebay.
I picked Nick up from school and we headed out to do some thrifting. I was looking for a couple more wool sweater to felt. We ran into Tuesday Morning to look at a comforter set they had in their ad but it felt gross so we didn't get it. I was able to score in the thrifting department - many things to flip and even some for the kids. I also found a couple sweaters.
Mom and Dad came over for dinner - we made tacos. Ellie shared her breads with Mom and Dad. We watched the Middle - pretty funny. Nick is still singing, "on the first day on Christmas my true love gave to me...nothing." Mom and Dad left and we got the kids to bed.
After confirming my doctor appointment for Tuesday, I was called a few hours later to have my appointment changed. I think I need to dig in the closet and find a coat warmer than the fleece coat I am wearing because it got cold overnight. I am feeling pretty good - feet are still tingling but I don't think they will ever not be. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

Bread, bread and more Bread

Yesterday, we had our normal morning here. Ellie got off on the bus and then I took Nick to school. I came back home to clean up a bit for cooking club in the afternoon. I picked Nick up from school and Jo and Matteo met us here. We were off for an adventure. Matteo slept almost the entire time. Nick was a peach and was patient as could be.
We hit Whole Foods around lunchtime and picked up what we needed and got lunch. We did a Trader Joe stop and I was able to pick up the remaining ingredients for cooking club. Jo and Matteo dropped up off and I finished cleaning.
Ellie came home from school and started her homework. Rob came home to entertain Nick while I cooked. Christi dropped Catherine off and the girls finished their homework while the oven pre-heated and I got everything ready. We were making zucchini chip muffins, pumpkin cherry bread and banana chocolate chip bread. I grated the zucchini as the girls finished up.
It was very nice to work with the girls this week. We used some of the math skills they have been working on in school and they just worked so well together.
We ended up with 12 muffins and 7 loaves of bread. The kids all played together as I got everything into the oven and baked. We made pizza for dinner and I cooked some broccoli while the girls cut a few oranges to go with blackberries. We had dinner and then we taste tested each of the breads. Not bad - 7/10 stars was the bottom rating. We now know how to tweak the recipes for next time.
Christi came and we had a couple minutes to visit while the girls finished playing their board game. When they left, we got the kids in bed. Ellie and I started a new book and Rob read Dr. Seuss to Nick.
This morning was the same old stuff. Ellie got off to the bus and then I got Nick ready for school. I spent my free hour or so at Salvation. I picked up a couple wool sweaters for a project and was able to find Matteo a shirt, Ellie a couple dresses and a few things to flip.
I picked Nick up and we headed over to Mom and Dad's. Jo called and was going to join us over there too. We had lunch and I got my Matteo fix. He had a shot today at his doctor visit. I helped Mom go through her tupperware and rubbermaid containers and weed out lids with no bottoms and vice versa. We watched Nutcracker before heading home. Tony came home with us for a little bit.
Nick and Tony played legos Thomas and built trains and cars. Jo was here to pick him up about 45 minutes later. Ellie came home from school and we did homework. The first batch of my auctions ended this afternoon - not bad - 11 items for $98.00. Rob stopped home for a couple minutes before he went to the basketball game.
I got laundry in and flipped. The kids played and then we had dinner. Ellie took a shower while I worked with bleach to clean Nick's hands. They painted with colored shaving paint at school and his hands were still green. We went up and got ready for bed. Nick did not want to go to sleep tonight.
I was able to list a couple more thing s after the kids went to bed - free listings today and tomorrow. I got the kitchen curtains washed and rehung today. All the blankets in the back room were washed. Christi is coming over for coffee tomorrow morning while Nick is at school. I don't know if it is the weather or what but my feet and my knees are not happy. Feet are just super sensitive. Knees feel like something is rubbing and are out of alignment. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

All my Boxes came

Coming home from grocery shopping with Mom and Dad on Friday - I found a huge stack of boxes were delivered. Such fun! Nick helped me move them all in and un-pack them. We put the mattress topper onto his bed and we watched it magically grow until it was ready and then we did Ellie's bed. Highly suggest the Sleep Innovations foam toppers from Kohl's to anyone wanting to extend the life of their mattress. It is like sleeping on a cloud.
Nick helped me un-wrap and wash all our new pots and pans. Love my new pans. Only thing I don't love it is lids. They are glass with a knob top so I cannot hang them from my rack like my old ones. We packed up our old set to drop off at Salvation. Nick played for a while with his trains while I got the final items listed on ebay.
Ellie had a rec night (afternoon) at school so we picked her up a bit later than usual and we were off to see Arthur Christmas. We were able to get there in time to see a couple previews. The movie was super cute - very entertaining for parents. We came home and I got the kids to bed. Rob had a basketball game that evening.
Saturday was full of wonderful things. It began with a new creation...banana chocolate chip monkey bread. It was so yummy. The bananas caramelized and it was ooey, gooey deliciousness. It was Mom's annual ladies luncheon. Ellie helped me make crostini in the morning and then we all showered and got dressed. We went over a bit early to help out. We were delighted when Kate called to say Adie would be able to join us and the delight continued when Mrs. B walked in with Kelly and Molly.
Kelly and Molly are staying here instead of going back to California. They will be moving downstate Illinois - so exciting. Adie and I had a bunch of fun sitting next to each other and coming up with some marketing ideas for future projects. I got some Matteo love. Dad was a sport and took Nick and Tony for a boys lunch date. Nice hanging out with the ladies...Mom, Jo, Ellie, Kate, Adie, Mrs. B, Kelly, Katherine and Jamee.
We ended up staying because Rob had a couple work parties to attend. We ordered pizza for dinner and the kids played. I found a new free app for the ipad - can't recall the name exactly but you cut and style Santa and a Christmas tree - great fun. We came home and I got the kids to sleep.
This morning we all just hung out. The kids awoke to our Elf finally doing something fun. Elfie had pulled up the dollhouse Christmas tree, the fireplace and a tv (airing an Elf movie) and some friends in a sleigh and were all visiting. We eventually got dressed and ate lunch. We went over to Mom and Dad's to do our annual visit to St. Nick's. Ellie was so excited to get to the fair that she slammed my foot in the car door. Luckily, Danskos are pretty brick like and heavily cushioned the injury. The kids got to visit with Santa and get their wishes in. We walked around the craft fair and then left.
We had an early dinner - Rob came over to join us. The kids did a couple crafts while we waited for dinner. Sometimes, food is better the next day - reheats tonight were great. We came home and the kids played for a bit. We started bedtime a bit earlier to see if it might not take as long...I think it cut 15 minutes off. Rob and I got to watch our Sunday shows - they haven't been on in a couple weeks.
Feeling pretty good - not much to complain about. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, an increased white blood count and the new normal, Tree

The cold has moved in

On Wednesday, I got Ellie off to the bus stop and then got Nick to school. We hit every light on the way to school. I visited one of my favorite thrift stores and found a bag of Wilton tips for cake decorating and it also had a cookie press and tips in it. I found a new (used) light up snowman to complete our outdoor decorations. I stopped off at Panera to pick up a loaf of bread for dinner.
I picked Nick up from school and we came home and had a snack. I was able to get a workout in while he was engrossed in an episode of Thomas. Mom and Dad came and picked us up and we went to Meijer's to grocery shop. We found some treats on sale - Oberweiss egg nog, new mascara and yogurts. We made it home just in time to get Ellie from the bus.
Ellie and I did her homework and she practiced her clarinet. I was able to finish up our outdoor lights. I added about 1,000 twinkle lights and the new snowman - looks nice. Mom and Dad were over for Wednesday night dinner. I made my leftover roasted veggies in soup - so delicious. I made a pot of noodles, a salad, pineapple and blackberries and applesauce to go with it. We had a blast from the past for dessert - frosty, minty ice cream trees. My sister and I grew up on these but we got them in January when they were on clearance. The kids took their showers/baths and we were off to bed.
Thursday was a busy day here. Ellie had her Battle of the Books competition. This was the culmination of the 20+ books she had to read this past summer and a fall of reviewing them. I packed some candy canes for her to take with for energy and she was off to the bus. I took Nick to school and then really didn't have a plan for my free 1.5 hours.
I headed to HomeGood and was able to pick up a couple kitchen items on clearance. I broke my spatula/flipper thing last month. I found a new one. I was waiting for Waxberg shoes to open but I guess they don't open until later - they had a sale sign up and I wanted to see if they had any Dansko's. I hit Salvation for lack of anything else I could do for 30 minutes. Just so happened it was a good time to hit it because all their kids clothes were 50% off.
I got a couple sweaters for Nick and a few other things that I have looked at before but didn't buy because they weren't on sale. I picked Nick up from school and we came home. I got some laundry in and got him lunch. He was super hungry and would finish one thing and move onto the next.
It was the 1st of the month - ebay listing day. I spent much of the afternoon listing and was able to get 40 things up and listed by the time Rob got home from work. Rob went to the doctor for his persistent cough and is on a steroid again. He got a referral to the allergist too. He made some tea and we were on our way to watch Ellie's battle.
It was interesting...the hostess would read a passage from one of the books and the children had to say the name of the book and the author. There were over 75 books on the list. I don't know that I would be able to recall a random line in a book that I had read 6 months ago. Ellie was able to successfully help answer a couple for her team but in the end, they didn't win. The library treated us to dinner and then we left. Rob had taken Nick home and Ellie and I drove and picked up Rob's prescription at Target.
Our Elf on the Shelf, the traveling messenger between our house and Santa, made his appearance yesterday morning. The kids are very excited. I don't know if it my body finally creating those much needed white blood cells but I am sleeping way too well (and long). I have been able to be in bed (yes, in bed) by 1AM and sleep until the kids get up at 7:30AM. Nick, on the other hand, is having the most difficult time actually falling asleep at night. I switched shoes and my feet feel far better than they did last week. Danskos really help out with the neuropathy.
I am still having a bit of lower back pain. I am hoping that getting into bed at night will slowly help with this. Visualising my healthy and continually healing body, my white blood cells increasing and the new normal, Tree