Halfway Point.....

Don't be afraid...

...with Google Voice you can ditch your landline and those monthly bills.

Even if you hold your laptop up to your face like a flip phone, talking into your computer is lame. You want to use Google Voice like a real phone—with buttons and stuff. Here is how.

You're going to need a Google Voice account. You can get a Google Voice number right here, for free. Do it. This will be your new "Home Phone Number".

The key to all this fun, is the little device I got for christmas this year. The Linksys PAP2T, only $49.99 on amazon.com.



The Linksys PAP2T is a little box that turns your home phone into a VoIP phone. It's simple: You just plug your home phone into the PAP2T's jack and plug the PAP2T into your home network (Internet). That's it; your hardware setup is done.

The real magic (and a little bit of work) is in the VoIP service Sipgate. Sipgate is a VoIP service that gives you a free phone number and free incoming calls.

Google Voice gives you free outgoing calls in the US.

Sipgate's free incoming calls combined with Google Voice's free outgoing calls, is a perfect $0/month solution.

You won't notice any difference when it comes to receiving calls. Your home phone will ring, just like it did with your landline.

Making outgoing calls is a little less convenient because you'll need to use Google Voice's website to set up calls. Google voice will call your home phone and then connect you with the phone number you entered at the website. This is a small hassle but that tiny trade leaves you completely free of monthly bills. The other option is to just make outgoing calls with your cell phone.

Two other items of note. Sipgate will allow you to call 911 for approximately $2/month if you sign up and configure it, otherwise no 911 from the home phone. Also, if you have a home security service, they generally require a more formal landline service.


Here's how to do it:
• Sign up for Sipgate and get your free phone number. (mine was a California phone number, but it doesn't matter)
• Set up Google Voice to forward calls to your new Sipgate number.
• Plug a phone into your PAP2T, grab a pencil, and dial "****"
• After the prompt, dial 110# (here's why you need the pencil), and write down the IP address it recites back.
• Type that IP address in your browser
• On the resulting page, go to "Admin Login" and choose "Line 1"
• Insert the proper info, Sipgate's website has detailed instructions on the exact information you'll need to plug into your PAP2T.

The Pergola Kid

The concrete has been scored in a 2' x 2' diamond pattern; waiting to be stained later. The Lifetime Lumber arrived and a guy was here today to start the pergolas. Gib and Taryn think they look very shrine-ish and so of course Gib had to go outside and break them in.

I was supposed to work from 2-6 today. Last night I started feeling pretty bad. One eye began swelling and I had a low grade fever. This morning, I woke up with both eyes swollen; I was pretty sure the excision was getting infected. I felt bad making the Dr come in on his day off, but figured better today than Christmas if it got progressively worse. I got a prescription for a different antibiotic than the one I've been taking. I am nervous about trying one I've never been on before, however, since antibiotics and I have an unpleasant history.

I called CWC and they said the really needed me there, but would put me in the fitting room since I look like Quasimoto and don't feel so chipper. When I showed up, the store had slowed down to where there were more sales associates than customers. I was dropped off by Mike 15 minutes early, so I was hanging out in the break room, and was promptly sent home before I even clocked in. I am now on stand-by here at the house since I am 5 minutes away should things change from 4-6 when they go down to two associates to close. I am working forever the day after Christmas, so I think the assistant manager wanted me to be ready and raring to go then. Return City and Mega After Christmas Sales. Sure hope I can smile by then.

After I got cut at CWC I helped Mr. C with all the last minute errands of the Night Before Christmas, including a stop at the grocery store for sugar cookies with sprinkles on top. We figured Santa would like those just as much as if Mariah had made them, and we wouldn't have a kitchen to clean! It's just one of those kind of years. I think there will be a little something extra in the stocking to make up for it, but that's just a guess.

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope your Christmas is joyful and filled with the Spirit of the Christ Child whose birth we celebrate, not only tomorrow but all through 2011.

The Stitches

The title should be sufficient warning! 3 out of 4 kids think it is disgusting beyond belief. I like to think they just hate to see their beloved mother in stitches.

Today is much better. Sleeping comfortably is difficult.

I really hope when the stitches come out, the dr is right that it will eventually (key word, I'm thinking) look like another forehead wrinkle.

My Aching Head

I had a rough night and do not feel good today AT ALL. After insisting on prescription pain killer, I ended up having a reaction to it. When the Dr. gave me Lortab, I thought I had taken it before, but I guess not. I knew I should have asked for Darvocet, which I know I can tolerate. How I hate being so sensitive to meds. I no sooner had taken the 2nd Lortab, a hydrocodone mix which by the way wasn't working anyways, when the itching began. After awhile, I thought I'd better get up and see if I was starting to turn colors like I do when I have an antibiotic reaction. Well, after nearly fainting but seeing that I was just a ghostly white, I went back to bed and took myself off the painkiller. I got up at 5 am in too much pain to sleep, and tried taking Tylenol. After dozing on the sofa for 30 minutes, I began to feel faint from the pain, and was dripping in sweat. I debated barfing, then decided not to. Good call, huh?! I REALLY don't handle pain well.

So I called the Dr. at a reasonable hour of 7:15 which I thought was nice of me, before he started seeing patients. I described my experiences of the night before and the morning fun with the Tylenol as pain reliever. He wasn't willing to prescribe Darvocet since he really felt in the first place that I would be just fine with OTC. Seriously? 500 mg Tylenol covers the pain from a chunk of skin removed equal to the diameter and thickness of a nickel? After some discussion, he said I could alternate it with Motrin since the threat of bleeding is now pretty much passed. Well.... the threat of MY bleeding is. I am a cranky person when I have a head wound people!! Beware!! We ended the conversation with an out that if by late afternoon I am still in bad shape he will call in some kind of non-opiate pain reliever. Whatever, dude, I don't care what it is, I just don't want to barf.

So the actual procedure: they marked my head with sharpie, then iodined my whole face. The nurse gave me several injections to numb the area. I am not afraid of needles, but she got me a little worried because she said they would really sting and burn. I am not sure you should be saying that! I think it would have been better described as a "Stick and a Sting". Once she got about 3 in, I didn't hardly feel even that, except for a couple of less numbed areas going in. After 15 minutes they tested to see if I was indeed numb. There were a couple spots not numbed enough so I got needled again. Then the dr came in and next thing you know, I feel a line being drawn across my forehead. I kept my eyes closed and went to my happy place, trying hard not to think about the fact that was a scalpel cutting into my skin there. Ewwww.

After a bit, I was roused from my happy place by a very distinct snip-snip-snip. I could even feel the tugging, but no other sensation. I gotta say it was really gross. So of course, I said "that sounds an awful lot like scissors" and the dr confirms he is using very small scissors on me. My reply? "That is so disgusting". I considered sharing the conversation Indy and I had about how gross we think his job is, but decided to save that for another time.

In between cutting, snipping and stuff, they were cauterizing. Eww, ewww, ewwwww. I told them before anything began that I would be the stillest person ever if they would just warn me ahead of the cauterization so I could hold my breath. Otherwise they would probably have a gagger. Their choice. I can hold my breath for a really long time too. So everytime he had to do that, I would take a deep breath and hold it. One time I jumped and he thought I had felt it. I said, "it almost hurt, but it didn't". It was kind of like a shock that I could feel in my hairline. I thought maybe a wire was moving in my hairline that I didn't know was there. He said it was a nerve that runs vertically and he was probably hitting it. Umm, ok, stop?! It kept happening after that.

When all of that FINALLY ended, and I gotta say it took so long my happy place was not happy anymore in the slightest, the sewing up began. That took even longer. I thought I could amuse myself by counting stitches. I stopped after a good long while, probably somewhere after 20. Mostly because I was distracted when I started to regain some feeling. At one point I go "I kinda felt that!" and the dr said "kinda?" I told him if it was the last one on the far right I could tolerate it, but if he was going to do anymore leatherworking over there, I needed more local first. Complete silence. Oh, that went over quite well. Then he said he was done there until the next row. Next row?! By the time he hit my forehead side I got a real zinger and went for an "OOWWW!" lest they think I was lying about my pain level tolerance being a ZERO. I think he did it on purpose. So I got re-numbed all over and the work commenced until it was done. My dr is really a nice guy, and I hope to see that he's as super talented as well. He said it will be a thin ridge for about 6 weeks. I will have a quizzical look for a couple of weeks as he had to pull the skin pretty tight making one brow higher than the other. My bangs better be long enough to cover that! The lab results come back in a week to 10 days.

They cleaned it all up, put a several layers of bandages over it. I thought about asking to see it, but decided my stomach was done for the day. Besides, now I have something to look forward to, hahah. A pressure bandage on top of all that and gave me a bunch of post-op instructions. They tried to talk me out of my prescription painkillers. And here we are. I am left wondering, if they find any more signs of melanoma next week that I will have to do this for?! Ugh.

Snow, Exams, Indy, Quilt, Paint, Guest, Taryn, Patio

It's been a week since my last blog..... and alot has happened since then! We had some snow, and that closed school for a day on Monday, then the kids went to school late on Tuesday. Indy arrived in the middle of it all on Tuesday night. On Wednesday they went to school on time, but came home at noon due to the threat of an ice storm, which never arrived. Sheesh! It wouldn't have bothered me except for a pesky little issue of final semester exams. Gib missed his afternoon exam on Wednesday and had to take 3 on Thursday. Everyone went to school for full days Thursday and Friday and got to finish all exams resulting in a relaxing Winter Break without the prospect of taking an exam in January looming over their heads.


Nobody was more relieved than Gib who pulled tanked grades up and got 2 A's and 3 B's for the semester. He came home and got his grades online, and requested the return on his cell phone and facebook account. He had to text his dad for the password. His dad replied "good grades". Gib thought it was a question, so he texted back YES. Turns out, Mike had changed Gib's facebook password to "good grades" during the duration of the weeks he had to go without it while working on his academics. I thought that was hilarious. I'm not so sure Gib found it as funny as I did.


Preschool ended on Thursday for the holidays. We had a half day with the Christmas program which was so adorable. The program was centered around my favorite childhood book of Twas the Night Before Christmas, with a narrator reading the story, a slide show with the pages of book as he read along, and at certain points each preschool class sang a song. Very cute! Afterwards, they all had class parties and went home. We broke down classrooms and then all the staff went out to lunch and we had our gift exchange. My boss knew I wanted to get this one teacher to make a quilt for her gift. She does so much for our school, the community, etc., and I wanted to give something extra back to her. I got this idea a long time ago to make a quilt based on the units she teaches; I browsed the material store to see if it was possible. Boy, was it!! So by some stroke of luck, my boss handed me her name and said she had drawn it for me since I wasn't going to be at school the day of the drawing! Wow, what a coincidence!

My mom and I had alot of fun shopping for material. It features Eric Carle heavily since the teacher starts with that unit and uses their Eric Carle inspired paintings all year long in their art projects. Mom and I spent alot of Thanksgiving placing the fabric.

Then mom went to work on all the sewing!

Here is the back of the quilt, done in subway tile pattern.

Everyone loved it, especially the teacher I gave it to! She couldn't believe we got all her preschool units into one quilt. My mom did a great job on it didn't she?! We make a good team. I love to choose the fabrics and she loves to quilt.

Another project finished this week, finally, was painting Taryn's new college girl bedroom. Indy helped me since I only got 1 wall done on Monday. She and I cranked it out and when Mike and I left on Sunday to get T, all that was left was one wall of touch ups and to put the furniture in place. I could have finished the touch ups if Killer Bunnies hadn't called me away! We wrote a message on the wall to her friend Charlie who will be remembered forever for losing in Rock-Paper-Scissors and having to stay in the "turquoise room" when he and Trevor came for a visit. We thought for sure the guys would be fighting over the bed, but nooo, they fought over the pull out sofa rather than lose any manliness in the turquoise room. Trevor and Charlie are on their missions now, but another friend from the infamous EFY group, Brennin, is back from his mission, so he came for a visit this weekend! We were excited to have his company. He had to learn Killer Bunnies, however, we didn't make him stay in the almost finished, paint fumed navy blue room. Indy, Brennin, Gib and Mariah also visited the Opryland hotel; a busy place this season having just reopened since the May flood. There are some great photos on Indy's facebook wall of their Opryland excursion. And one photo that is deep, deep, deep undercover right now. A totally fake marriage proposal from Brennin to Indy that they are going to use to fool Charlie and Trevor into thinking he proposed to her while they are on their missions.

Mike won Killer Bunnies by the way. Poor Brennin could barely keep Bunny Heart alive the entire game and had to revive him once even. He was attached. I do believe there is a photo of him snuggling Bunny Heart.

While Mike and I were picking up Taryn in St. Louis, Indy and Brennin finished her room as a welcome home present! They moved in all her furniture, hung the shelves, put up artwork, and decorated with all her shells and stuff. It looked great! We got home just in time to say goodbye to Brennin who had to return home that night. Bummer. Unfortunately, it was too dark without overhead lights in the college suites to get a photo, because as soon as Taryn moved in, her travelling trunk exploded and that AFTER photo is not going to happen until I see carpet again.

Here is Taryn, utterly thrilled that I texted Mike to send her out for a Rest Stop Photo Op to add to my collection

Fishy!!

We haven't seen much of Taryn since she got home Sunday night. She has a cold and doesn't feel well. She is pretty much sequestered up there with her Betta fish, named Fishy, who had to travel with us in a Parmesan cheese shaker because it had a lid with holes and could fit in a cup holder. I thought that was totally ingenious on my part, especially since it was 2 am when I came up with it.

WHEW!!! this is long, isn't it?! Yesterday, Christmas came early and we got concrete!!!

The cats haven't used the back door since who knows when. Neither have we, but hey, we're just the humans, it's the cats that use it the most!

Chino was given Top Cat honors.

Not sure about this!

Haven't quite figured out there was stairs yet. He eventually did.

Give Chino the time and he'll get there.

Heading to his sidewalk, happy as he can be!

Mom's prison window will be replaced soon with a longer, bigger one.

Still no bars. She hasn't tried to escape so we're rewarding her Good Conduct. From the inside the difference is amazing! So much natural sunlight in her kitchen and living room now! Yay!

Next: The patio will be scored in a diamond 2x2' pattern tomorrow. It will be stained when the weather warms up and it has cured. The pergolas will be built and the fire pit and elevated portions of the patio will be bricked. Also we have some brick columns going in which will be topped with outdoor lights flanking the sidewalk. And the wrought iron guys comes tomorrow or Thursday to start the railings.

Happy B-Day Tuesday!

Today is Happy B-Day Tuesday to Mike! We are celebrating with the girls when everyone is gathered this weekend. But Mike has a white birthday this year to go with the silver starting to show in his hair. It happens to all of us eventually.

School starts 2 hrs late. That is to give the roads a chance to de-ice. If conditions just aren't going to work out, the school board cancels school after all. That way, nobody can say they planned a day off. Unfortunately, it's semester exams and the show must go on, or else Friday's exams would have to take place in January and nobody wants that!!! So we are all quite certain that school will start 2 hrs late today; I think I heard something on the recorded message about bus drivers using "discretion". Wow, what a concept. The entire school district doesn't have to miss school on account of one patch of ice in the back country a bus can't go around or skip that pick up destination altogether?!

This afternoon, Indy will head home in her blinkie black bug. Say that 3x fast. The turn lights and electrical system have gone beserk. When she uses her turn signal, all sorts of lights start flashing. It's kinda comical, unless you need to drive... or pay to fix it. She needs to get the fuel line looked at too. Oy.

Snow Monday

Gib says I blew it not having a Thursday, Friday or Saturday post last week. Well, I was busy and didn't have anything! Hello?! Am I the only one here that can do this thing? I think not.

Good news to start our week: School was cancelled today! No Power Monday blues for Mariah because everyone got to sleep in... except me. I got to go next door and take care of the pups. Diego went first just to make sure all was still OK in the world. He got as far as the sidewalk and came right back in.

12 degrees and Rudolf's nose lit my way thru the frosty snow

This time I didn't wear slippers like last night at 10:30.

Once daylight hit, the kids were outside, a balmy 16 degrees and just enough snow to sled

Gib and Thomas

Thomas saying something goofy about his gloves

Mariah giving me ALOT of grief about sending Mike a text to bring better winter gear down to us. This is her "you've got to be kidding me" mad face. She didn't care for my hypothermia/snow gear/frost bite/don't-eat-snow advice. I threw Gib's snow jacket at him and had Mike bring Mariah his ski jacket. Yeah, it went down to her knees, but then they were WARM knees, weren't they!

Mike also brought a new beanie for Mariah and water bottles for the kids.

Because you REALLY shouldn't eat snow.
And then he drove me home :) ~ Love him!!!

It wasn't too much longer before the kids appeared on our hill. Then Mariah came inside for hot cocoa. Gib and Thomas appeared soon after. They all had chips & salsa, sandwiches, and whatever else they could find for lunch. We had fun chatting, watching video of the boys "Being Stupid Take 4" and now Gib and Thomas are back outside.

And....

I've GOT to paint Taryn's room!

What's Up With Wednesday?!

The news just kept getting weirder and weirder by Wednesday. On Tuesday, I got the call from Taryn that she was really ill. She is now feeling much better now after taking the meds her health center gave her, and drinking the electrolyte fluids they provided. The pain in her lower abdomen went away so she is off the watch list - whew! Dodged a bullet there.

But on Wednesday, I got another similar call from Indy! She was in terrible condition and very distressed. I told her to call her student health center and ask them what they could do for her so she wouldn't waste a trip down there if they were just going to send her away. An hour later they hadn't called her back. Her student health center is pretty bad. Taryn's seems to be pretty good - so there you go.

Indy ended up calling around to find someone who didn't have classes that day and they drove around looking for a walk in clinic. They finally found one and Indy staggered in and said she needed to see a dr badly. She ended up being hooked up to an IV, given antibiotics and stuff to stop the nausea and other medications. Poor Indy!

Somewhere in the middle of searching for the clinic, Indy's health center called back. They were closing for lunch and then the dr was only going to be there for another hour, so she was pretty much out of luck so it was a good decision she made to bail the campus and seek emergency medical care elsewhere. Too bad she didn't think to refer to the handy blue notebook I provided that told her where to go in the event she needed a clinic, complete with mapquest directions.

Taryn only has a couple choices and none are on our insurance plan so it doesn't really matter where she ends up going. What a week - My poor babies!! I sure hope Taryn does well on her make up test today, and that Indy's professors will all excuse her absence today as she sleeps and recovers from her illness. They both need to be in good health for final exams next week!!!

My wacky Wednesday yesterday was subbing in the 4 yr old preschool class. Nothing exciting happened. We worked on the parent gift for Christmas. I turned it into a 3 stage snowflake project. First we glitter painted the wooden snowflake. After Chapel we put decorations on it. After recess, I called the kids over one at a time during their "nap" and we put glue and sprinkled tons of glitter all over it. They got to choose what color glitter. I let a couple artistic kids go wild and put all 4 colors on theirs. Their teacher will wonder what happened to her glitter because I do not recycle the leftovers back into containers. Who has time for that?! Plus it got mixed up on the table!! I am just not that careful when I create. Today they will put their photos in the middle and their cute little answers to the questions what is special about themselves, their mom and their dad. I loved the ones that said stuff like Mom makes macaroni & cheese, and dad gives me raspberries; and I like jumping on my bed with my sister. Too precious!!! I do love my job.

After preschool I tried to get out of CWC but they really needed those calls completed so I went in early and knocked it out of the park with the other gal. We had those phones going like crazy and got it done in under 2 hrs. Then they let me go home. Nice! I was tired. I picked the kids up from church and we watched Survivor! What a great evening after a very long day!

I touched base with both my sicklies and they were doing ok, so I was able to rest well. And now I wonder... what will Thursday bring?! Dare I even ask....

Terrible Tuesday

Well in keeping with the accidental blogging theme created, today was Terrible Tuesday in alot of ways:

• Taryn is Totally Sick. Really sick. Hopefully she only has the totally terrible rotten stomach virus going around campus, but I did get a call from her and the school nurse that she is on...appendicitis watch. She missed an exam today and has finals next week. Her ECON prof said she can make up today's exam next Thursday. Pray, pray, pray for T that she recovers her good health SOON and that it is not her appendix!!

• It's Totally Freezing here! After dinner tonight, Gib, Riah & I went outside to move some cement and gravel ditched beyond the creek. We never used to see it until Tree Guy came and cleared the place out. It was an eyesore. The dumpster will be leaving soon and Grammy wanted the debris gone. We all got frozen fingers. Gib had a nice little song going there about how he couldn't feel his fingers while we worked. I was the only one with gloves and they were just my driving gloves. We all needed to thaw afterwards.

• Today was a Total Bummer because I had to return to real life. No more sick pass for me. Back to the 6 days a week grind. But I am feeling a tad better. The antibiotics are kicking in. Tomorrow I gotta pull a double shift though. Ugh. Actually I'm gonna call it a triple because I am subbing in a pre-K class, so that counts as a double, and then working at CWC afterwards. Not looking forward to it much. I only have to make phone calls at CWC but I may not have much of a voice and zero energy. I will turn in early again tonight and hope extra sleep helps.

Well, all in all, there was nothing TOO terrible about today, except Poor Taryn.... but hopefully she is feeling better by Wacky Wednesday. I mean, who doesn't right?!

Power Monday

Yesterday was Power Monday for Gib. The high school administration meets and does teacher stuff and students start school at 8:10 instead of 7:30. If you take the bus, it picks you up same as usual and the kids hang out in the cafeteria. I drive Gib to school on Power Monday's, which pretty much gives him a whole extra hour of sleep. Mariah declared her dislike of his extra hour of sleep loudly and often. Both before school and after. Why this particular Power Monday pushed her over the edge, I don't know, but it sure rankled her. Totally not fair that Gib got to sleep in and she didn't! Maybe it was walking to the bus stop alone... no that can't be it, she had to sprint to the bus because she almost missed it. Just jealousy, pure and simple.

She was still riled about it and gearing up for another rant, while Gib and I were in the kitchen getting ready to serve dinner. We were about to try the consolation approach that she would get her Power Monday's in a couple of years too, but that little devil on my shoulder whispered in my ear (he was probably tired of the complaining!) and I winked at Gib and mouthed watch this... Mariah walks in and hearing the last of Gib's attempt at teasing/mixed with consolation, I go "yeah, you'll have a turn...oh noooo, wait. Your new high school (we were rezoned) doesn't have Power Mondays!" You should have seen her face. I was projecting utmost tragedy, more angst at the rezoning, and the most sincere sympathy I am capable of... I was only going to let it go another 10 seconds. But Gib, he couldn't take it, he goes "They have Power Wednesdays Mariah". I'm all "GIB!!!! I was gonna tell her in a minute!" and he says, "Mom... didn't you see her face?" Ahhh, what a good big brother. And then they ganged up on me and discussed what kind of mother does this stuff to her kids. The BEST KIND I say, the best kind.

That would be the same mother who drives her kid to high school on the Power day just so they can sleep in that extra hour. And Power Monday just so happens to be my day off! But wait, I'm the mom, and there's no such thing as a day off, right?! Besides, I love that drive to school time with Gib in the car. We enjoy it. There was this one morning when it was really cold and I don't have my driving gloves out yet. So I had my sleeves over my hands. I'm telling Gib how he probably shouldn't drive this way, since all our drives are now instructional. Some dodo is blocking both lanes to make a left turn, another dodo turning left across traffic stops in the middle of it and BOTH vehicles are in my way! Of course I honked! I threw up my hands in a C'MON! Move It! gesture, and Gib starts cracking up - we both did - because my hands are completely covered by flapping sleeves. Oh, we laughed all the way to school. :)

On a similar vein, Mariah got more teasing from her dad last night. Poor Mariah was just getting all our attention last night. Grammy and I stopped at Platos yesterday afternoon to get Mariah a couple pair of jeans for Christmas and we found a great leather jacket at an unbelieveable price which I knew Mariah would love. You can only make returns within 7 days, so I had to know if they fit even though it was all for Christmas. She was trying them on and modelling for us. The jacket was a Medium, but it was a good fit across the shoulders, just a tad long in the arms and big in the body. She can grow into it. Mike pronounced it too short for her and it had to go back. Mariah said I was the expert! Hah. Then she tried on jeans. She told me she wanted the longest ones I could find so that's what I went for. One pair has about 2" on the ground - she says it's perfect! Dad said "too short!". I tried to talk her into doing a modelling walkway run show for us with a headtoss turn, but no go. C'mon, work those jeans and leather jacket Girl!!

Now instead of hearing about Power Mondays, I will be listening to how cold it is and how much she neeeeeds that leather jacket before Christmas every morning. :))

SAT Saturday

Today is the day the younger half of our progeny take the dun-dun-dun (I am really going for the musical special effects this week) SAT. Yes, it is SAT Saturday, as opposed to SON Sunday huh Mickie?! Indy and Taryn both took the ACT, so I thought it was time to try the SAT on for size. The SAT tests in Math, English, and Writing.

Mariah is taking it voluntarily as a 7th grader as part of the Duke TIP academic talent identification program. Mariah qualified to take it due to scoring 100% on math TCAP in 5th grade, and 99% in 6th. Because she has not had much Science yet, I wondered if the SAT would be a better fit for her.

The Duke TIP thing gives her an opportunity to experience the test early. Whoooweee, kind of like riding a roller coaster, huh?! Ah, the thrill. And in return, somebody gets your money and you get in their program for the next 5 years. Supposedly, it helps us develop a diagnostic education plan for Mariah. It may also lead to academic offerings over summers for Duke TIP participants such as math or science camps. The students may have some scholarship opportunities if they do well, but that is not the main goal. I, however, rather think it is the main goal of parents who are looking at the high cost of a college education these days! And of course, I expect we will get alot of college brochures in the mail for the next 5 years. I don't mind; we could use that for both kids.

I wasn't really planning on Gib taking it, but at the last minute, we signed him up too. He was so pleased. But he missed the PSAT offered at his high school when his wisdom teeth were taken out. I also liked that Gib can go with his 12 yr old sister, where they will be with mostly 17 yr olds. I'm just freaky like that and everyone knows it.

It will be a good baseline for both Gib and Mariah. And what a wonderful way to spend a Saturday!

What Did You Get Today?

Did you get a pile of..... GRAVEL?! Ours actually arrived yesterday. It might be smaller by now, who knows. I'm too busy coughing to find out.

This is where it has been going. There is alot of noise going on out there and a big ol' wheelbarrow dumping more in, so yeah, the pile must be getting smaller. Soon, this will be the new backyard porch leading to the patio. The stairs going down will be on the left. Boy will it feel good to be able to open the back door again!

I took this before the workers arrived, super early, in the freezing cold. OK, it was 7 am, but I still consider that early and it WAS cold!

Grammy is supposed to get her window today! It looks so small right now, doesn't it? But it had to fit in her kitchen between cabinets, and there is a ceiling and a floor above her, so it couldn't be much wider or bigger. I'm sure once everything goes in, it will not look so forlorn. Plus we discovered prison bars were way more expensive than one might think, and Grammy hasn't tried to escape yet. And I know that looking out, the window will be absolutely wonderful!!

So. Guess what I got today? I'm supposed to be in bed watching HGTV... at least that is what I usually do when I'm really sick. My CWC boss is not a happy girl right now, but I am the "lucky" holder of a 3 day work furlough due to Acute Bronchitis. All I went to the clinic for was some prescription tussin cough pearls so we could all get some relief from the stupid non stop coughing and I could work the weekend without consuming an entire bag of Halls (which by the way, gives you a tummy ache). Instead, I got the cough prescription, inhaler, and 3 day pass!. I've never had an inhaler before. Wow, am I getting old or what?!

Along those same medicinal old lady health reports (geez, hate reading those, eh?!): I cancelled my excision on 12/6. I just had "that feeling" about the place. I called and spoke to the chick who was to perform it. Thought, pondered and prayed. Woke up about 3 am with a very strong feeling not to go there. Called a friend and we talked, and I discovered the chick is a Physicians Assistant and while she may be very qualified, I really don't want a PA doing what I am now quaintly referring to as my "forehead removal". When she told me I would be losing nerves and all feeling for 3-6 months I was concerned about whether or not a Plastic Surgeon, or at the very least, someone quite specialized should be holding the scalpel! So I cancelled and started searching.

I got several names from people I trust who have gone through this, but it's hard to find someone who "is the best" and on my insurance. I got a match but couldn't get in until 12/30 for a consult. A friend had an appt on 12/9 and was going to try to switch with me. We prayed over the phone as we hung up. Thank goodness for friends and prayers! This morning, two other friends helping me out sent an email with an awesome referral which was on my insurance. I called and got an appoint for next week. I didn't get the dr she said to ask for since he wasn't taking new patients, but I took the first available appointment hoping for the best outcome the Lord would provide. Next thing I knew they called back, and I was asked to send my labs in for a potential appt with the dr I wanted in the first place!

I did that, and then made use of my time waiting to hear back at the Walgreens Take Care Clinic. I figured I didn't want to hack all evening at CWC like I did on Monday. Ugh, that was horrible. While I was at the clinic, I got the call: My appointment to see the golden Dr. Pennington (aaaahhhh! - you have to make the music noise) is on Monday. It's a consult. A consult mind you. They said that 3 times. Yes, I understand. I may still be passed to an underling doctor who graduated summa cum laude from Harvard, Vanderbilt... or (gasp) University of Tennessee, but I will take what I can get. Nashville Skin and Cancer Center looks like an answer to prayer to me. Plus, Father Randy went there and he's bald and I can't even see his scars! I think he might have even prayed me there. Alot of people offered alot of suggestions and prayers and I really appreciate the extra support when I started to get overwhelmed yesterday.