What I've been up to lately.

Things have been busy for me for about a week now. On Friday, the 24th, we got up at 5 AM to get ready to take a taxi to the train station. The train was supposed to be there at 6:42 but didn't arrive until 7. Not a big delay, but The Boy really wanted to get on the train, and waiting was really boring. We took the train up to Portland, and then had to take a Grey Hound bus up to my Parents. We had a fairly long wait for the bus, but then everything was good.

My Mom picked us up and took us home, but then had to go back to work. So we got to know the kittens and relaxed until Mom and Dad came home. Howard went out to the storage trailer and threw some of the stuff out. When he came in he told me to be prepared, things were bad in there. We visited with Mom and Dad for awhile and then went out to the RV to go to bed.

Saturday was full of canning tomatoes and getting mixed news from Howard about the damage in the trailer. There were some interesting things that made it through relatively unharmed. Like a Harry Potter book in a plastic box that was sealed and hadn't leaked even a little, which was found in the middle of a box of other things that were ruined. We picked up the U-Haul Saturday afternoon, and The Boy helped his Daddy load up some things.

Sunday Mom and I canned some Bread and Butter pickles and Jalapeno peppers. More mixed news about my things. Nearly all of my books and SCA stuff gone. 3 plastic storage boxes had leaked and were full of water and rotting clothing. The smell was horrible. Pictures of the Older Boys, my treasure chest with keepsakes that were mine baby cloths, baby books, things that were my Grandmothers, and pictures of my parents when they were younger, all gone. But all my Harry Potter books were okay, the videos and DVD's, Beany Babys were all fine. Some important genealogy papers were damaged, but Howard spent hours carefully separating wet papers and laying them out to dry so most of them were saved.

Monday, we finished loading the U-Haul, and tossed the rest back into the trailer. After a shower, we left to drive home. We were too tired to unload Monday evening so we rested and went to bed early.

Tuesday, Carol and her husband Thomas came over and helped us unload the U-Haul. It was hot and exhausting but we got it all done. Well actually they unloaded while I watched the kids, SLG was here, and cleaned and sorted some of the stuff.

Wednesday, taking care of kids in the middle of the mess was interesting to say the least. But we managed and I even made some progress in the sorting and cleaning. My Microwave, Crock Pot, and TV aren't working, but maybe they just need to day out a little bit more. I hope. I got rid of some things that are still good but I don't need, and finding things that should never have made it home at all.

Today, the next to the last day SLG will be coming here, was fairly calm. I washed some of the kitchen stuff, and played with the kids. I posted new pictures on Flickr of The Boy, the Kittens, the Train trip, the ride on the bus, and the produce I brought home from Dad's garden. I need to send SLG's Mom some pictures I took last week. And I'll do some more cleaning. I'm not going to push myself to get things finished, things are safe for the kids and adults in the house, if a bit smelly, so I don't have to worry right now. I'll post the pictures later, or you can go to Flickr and see them.

Photos from The Boy's first year.

While getting my photos off of Yahoo! Photos, and hopefully transferred to Flickr I came across several pictures of The Boy's first year. I thought I'd share a few of my favorites.

Just a week old.

Sleeping on Daddy's chest.

5 Months old.

Sitting in a tire.

Standing up in Mom's chair. (About 7 months old)

Things that make me happy.

I haven't had time, or energy, or what have you to think of things that make me happy for the August Happiness challenge. I admit I dropped the ball there for awhile. So here goes with a short list of things that make me happy today.

Hennifer, who took time off work to take us to the dentist and to pick up medications.
The Boy is back to normal.
Our budget was able to absorb the cost of all the dental work. ($297.50 so far)
The weather hasn't been too hot, or too rainy.
I have a couple of friends I know I can call and talk to when/if I need to.
My Dad celebrated his 69th Birthday on the 10th of this month.

The Boy is doing well, now that we figured out that he will take his medication if we mix it with milk. However, we go through milk twice as fast now. I need to get to the store soon to get milk and a few other things.

Bad Teeth update.

You can see the swelling here. The two lower left back teeth had abscesses on them and they both had to be pulled. Maybe now he will not fight so hard against having his teeth brushed.

So anyway, we took him to the dentist SLG's Mom recommended, they looked at him and determined that there were several teeth that need to be taken care of. But of course those two were an immediate need. They referred us to an Oral Surgeon.

That office recommended that we bring him in right away. So, long story short, we took him in (Thanks Hennifer!) and they rearranged their schedule and got those awful teeth pulled out. He's feeling better now, but won't take his medication very well, so he's in pain quite a bit. We are mixing it with Milk which helps. There is still swelling, but it's getting better. On Tuesday we will take him in for a follow up exam, and hopefully we will have some time to recover financially before we schedule the other teeth. (More on that later.)

Bad tooth days.

The Boy has had a tooth ache for a couple of days. I've been looking for a dentist who would take him as soon as possible and was in our Provider Network for our insurance. I also wanted a Pediatric Dentist because The Boy is going to be really freaked out over this, and I want someone who understands and can handle it. Yesterday I found out that the only one in Salem that matches our criteria isn't taking new patients. This Morning The Boy has a swollen face, and HAS to get to a dentist NOW. Luckily SLG's Mom had a recommendation for me, and they will take him this after noon. They aren't in the PPO, but we can go to them anyway. Insurance will pay 80% after the $50 deductible, but there won't be a reduced price like a Network Dentist would have so we will end up paying more. But they will bill the insurance company first, and then we will pay whatever the insurance doesn't, so I have a few days to make sure we have money in the bank for it.

August Happiness Challenge.

I noticed on one of the blogs I read every day a tag for the August Happiness Challenge. I think I'll join in this. I used to do a Monday post (or whenever I got around to posting that week) about things that made me happy, or made me smile. This is a month long thing, but I probably won't be doing it everyday.

So here goes:

Right now, a nice cup of coffee and cooler weather make me happy.

Feel free to join in, you can add your happy things to comments if you don't have a blog or don't want to do it on your own blog.

New addition to the page.

I've added a Flickr Badge to my blog. I think you can click on it and it will take you to my Flickr site. You may have to sign in, but if you have a Yahoo! account you can use that, it's free and you don't have to put pictures there if you don't want to. Let me know how that works, I've had Flickr for a long time I don't know how these things work.

I take pictures of the kids almost every day. Here are a couple from August 1.

They were pretending to dance together. The Boy is getting more ... happy? ... about having SLG around. He still doesn't want a little sister of his own, but he isn't quite as in a hurry for her to go home any more.

SLG was walking toward me and I snapped this seconds before she abruptly sat down.

August 2.

Here's our little super model again. She saw I had the camera out and gave me this "smile for the camera" smile. Cute isn't she?

The Boy was feeling kind of Blah yesterday. I think he wanted a nap, but if I let him sleep during the day he will be awake late into the night.