Last night was eventful that is for sure. Andrew ended up taking a nap that lasted a bit to long for my liking. I went in to check on him and he seemed really warm. After taking his teperature I was shocked to see it was 104. I had just given him tylenol not 1-2 hours before. It was too soon to give him any more motrin so I ended up taking him into the ER. They were worried that I misjudged his dosing. Kept asking me what the mg was but without the bottle I have no idea. Turns out that I wasn’t the reason. Even with the motrin they gave him it still wasn’t going down. They ended up giving him IV fluids and taking several blood tests and then his temp went down. We were there for so long. Today however he is active and I have his temp under control. Trying my darnedest to get him to cough up the gunk in his lungs. The Man decided to work from home today. I think he was a bit worried about Andrew. Either way I am thankful he did since I am wiped out. Andrew had me take a few pictures with my phone so he could prove what a strong boy he could be getting poked and prodded so much.

I think he will be fine from here on out. Thank you for everyone who wished him better or offered advice it was very sweet of you all

UPDATE:

I called the Doctor this morning they said he doesn’t need an appointment can you come in right now? I of course said yes. Mind you I had yet to get dressed or even find a brush. I did all that in under five minutes and out the door we went. I was pretty freaked that he had us head over there so fast even more when he let us bypass all the people in the waiting room. It turns out he has croup. I thought only little ones get this. I was wrong. I was freaked out even more that he has lost 4 pounds. If it was me I would shrug it of and say yay I lost some butt. With Andrew though he has nothing and I mean nothing to spare. I was trying to make him smile and told him that because he dropped to 58 pounds he now has to go back in a booster seat. California law is 6 and 60 not 6 or 60. I was only teasing though I mean he is 9 and a half I am sure we can let 2 pounds slide. He has to be the only kid I know that groans when the doctor tells him no going to school until Friday. I wouldn’t trade him for the world though.

I stress for two days and finally Andrew is showing signs (other than a fever) of illness. It will be off to the Doctor today that is for sure. He sounds croupy and congested. He is refusing to eat anything, not even chocolate. You know he is sick when he refuses that! Yesterday I managed to get a little rice and cereal in him but that is no comfort to me. He is so tiny that I can’t fathom him lasting long without much. That is the over protective worry wart mom in me by the way. I had sworn off Pepsi but now it is back in the house and I am loving it more than ever. I think in the last 3 days I have had maybe 8 hours of sleep.

I have decided to start saving up for another camera. Sounds silly I have so many in this house already. My first baby sits in a drawer, my Canon 10D oh how I love that camera! I sold my car that I loved to get that and settled for one I hated but how I loved that camera. I don’t use it at all either and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It has 6.3mp and that keeps me from taking it with me. I much prefer the 30D to tag along because what if it is a good photo and I wanted the higher MP. I know silly but then if there is any chance it could get broken or wet, well I just won’t take it out. I was looking at the XTI or the XSI. I figure I could use it for the times when I don’t want to take a chance with my baby. I want to get an inexpensive lens for the 10D and teach Katie how to use an SLR. She has the desire to learn. It would be so great for her to share this one love with me.

I promise you he isn’t doing anything but coughing in that first photo. He has moved himself either into my bed or takes up most of the couch lately. Katie this morning before heading off to school. That was my quickie hairdo for her, she is growing her hair out. Word to the wise don’t let me do your hair on a few hours of sleep. Last photo is Mookie. He is huge.

As promised I have a freebie for you all. I will give out the actions first. I know where they are. I still need to track down the PSP scripty things. My computer and all the external drives are a mess it is like Becky encryption. No need to spend money on your computer to secure it, the way I have mine set up is enough to give anyone a headache. The Man can’t even handle it. He offered to get me software to at least organize the photos. I said like Picasa or acdsee and he said yes. I have them both a whole lot of good they do me! Back to the freebie, they are for adjusting your photos. Color boosts and under-exposed fixes. Just your average adjusting pack. Enjoy! Leave a comment if you want to. I always love them

You can Download it HERE

The family reunion went fine. It was seriously low key and quiet. Not a whole lot of people showed up (they must have known I was coming). The kids had a blast though. Katie was bored until I handed her, her camera. She just loves that thing. I would give her a mission to sneak photos of this or that person who if asked would really just pose for her. It has been 5 years since I have been there and in that time people have changed. No more hounding you over what job you hold or if you are knocked up with another kid or not since you had them so close in age.

The next day we went to look at a venue for the wedding/reception. This place seemed really neat. They offered an all in one package, you would marry there and have your reception they would provide food and the cake. Sounded great and the photos were beautiful! Then we got there and it looked like a themed motel from the outside. We were 50/50 about the inside too. They had a really unique kind of thing. You get 27 rooms to let your guests stay the night in. I really liked that till I saw the rooms. They were small which is ok because they give them to us for free for the time of year or the day of the week, but the linens were really shabby as was the furniture. The lighting was really orange and dim. In March I am pretty much stuck with an indoor reception. They took us through so fast that my head was spinning and then they were gone. I left with mixed emotions. The Man and I wouldn’t say that we didn’t like it to one another. However we passed this beautiful inn and that opened the flood gates with him saying he thought the other place would be like this one but sadly it wasn’t. I looked up the name on my phone because I thought it sounded familiar and sure enough it was a place for weddings!

We called them up as soon as we got home and scheduled an appointment for the next Saturday. It was just as they stated and I loved it! I finally have a venue for my wedding. We had to move the date up a few weeks because they were booked on the day I had planned, but I am fine with that. It may not have 27 rooms to rent out but it has enough to hold 16 people and the rooms a much nicer than the other. We had the tour and then they sat us down and talked to us about anything and everything we could think of. I am so excited over this.

Andrew has a mystery fever. I feel like I have been running around like a chicken with its head cut off! He has no real symptoms other than 103 and it is hard to bring down. I can get him down to around 101. I feel like I need to watch him every moment. Not knowing what is causing it is driving me bonkers. If he is still running one tomorrow it is off to the Doctor for him. I had a freebie planned but it took me forever to finish this post. I think it is ready to go but not 100% sure better left to when I can think strait. If you don’t see it within a couple days pester me. I have photo actions and scripts that are just sitting here waiting to be given away.

Today I have a family reunion. It is crazy how my family is. One side has 3 kids one cousin that I know of and then the other is a bazillion (OK 9) kids and a million cousins. I can’t keep up with who belongs to whom sometimes. I just know that I haven’t been there for at least 4-5 years now. I was pretty hurt by a few comments and a mean rumor. I am so nervous mostly because I just want it to run smoothly but yet I am fearing mean or rude comments being made or just being ignored all together. At least this time I have the man and I won’t ever be alone. Should I feel unhappy or uncomfortable we can just turn around and leave.

One thing I love about this house was the fact that is was kid friendly from the start. The kids rooms have murals. The house is in a culdesac so they can play outside safely. Most of all the back yard screams kids. There has always been a play area like a mini park. After Miss Katie broke the swing and almost broke her arm we decided time to get a new one or do something with that area. With her being on the verge of being a teen we opted for something different. We ended up voting on an above ground pool. The kids absolutely adore it. Me I am still seeing reminants from my sunburn! One good thing about spending more time with the kids is that they have just learned they need to accept the camera being in their faces again. Happily they will pose and smile for me again. I was so missing that. Andrew will always give me a smile, but Katie she just refused.

One thing I have to brag about is Andrew in the photos there. His head is wet and under water. This was a big issue with him. Washing his hair the last 9 years has been so hard because he hates water to touch his head, and now look at him! This is a direct result of having the Man in his life!

Since i doubt I will be selling for a while and should I choose to come back I doubt any of my stuff would be up to date I think I will give some away on here as freebies. This is a little collaberative thing Katie and I did a while back.

You can Download it HERE.

I know I have been non existent in the last few months. A break was a needed thing that is for sure. I had time to bond with my kids. I was able to concentrate on them and help with those little issues that all kids have. I really focused on them and they needed that. They still fight like cats and dogs but overall they act more respectful of each other. Of course now that I said that they will beat each other up or something.

I also had time to spend on me for once:

Pretty isn't it?

 We haven’t ironed out all the details but so far it looks like we will be getting married March 29th 2009. It isn’t a rushed thing either I have known him a long time. He is amazing too. I want to put his name here but since there are “some” people who stalk my site for info I will just call him the “man” for now. He is wonderful with the children wonderful with me. Just fits in our family like he has always been a part of it. I am as happy as can be!

Of course this is me so there are a few hang ups that are just off the freaking wall. I wanted to get some kids related stuff changed so I got an attorney and he so nicely told me from the information I handed him it looks like I am still married to the evil ex. I thought he was just having fun teasing me. He wasn’t. I have been on a never ending quest to get as many divorce papers as possible. I think I found the golden ticket that does indeed say we are divorced but until my attorney gets back to me it is a wait for the phone call kind of waiting game.

I keep thinking I should go back to designing but then I stop. I love to create but it seems like a rat race out there to be the biggest and the best. The drama is never ending and people get so mean. I thought about putting up my own store but then even some of the biggest names flop with their own. I think for now it will just be freebies off of my blog. Unless a decent store came knocking at my door I really don’t see me selling in any stores (and we all know how often that happens :P).

I was tsk tsk’d this week for not updating since January. I figured I would get a post in. I guess you can say I am no longer designing anymore. Tax time just made me see how much I don’t make. Sure it isn’t about the money, but the time I put into it well it just isn’t worth it to sit here and ignore my other responsibilities. I will still create you can’t take that away from me I just won’t be selling in any stores for a while (maybe for good who knows). I have been digiscrap designing since 2003. I am just worn out and tired and well to be honest I hate what the digiscrap world has become. I miss making freebies to give away with no string attached and well not being told I have to. My kids had five weeks off and I just had a blast being with them and I even took photos!

Being in California means that we had a lovely storm this last weekend. I never manage to watch TV on time, I just DVR everything and watch it later when I have time. I had no idea what was coming. Friday I woke up to high winds and tons of rain. Poor Andrew is so scared of lighting and thunder he was shaking and begging to stay home. I walked outside to see how bad it was and agreed they could both stay home if they felt the need. Good thing too because the school ended up without power and have the student body when home. The winds kept picking up so I run outside with hedge clippers and start trimming what I could of the palm trees. I looked like an idiot but it did stop them from bending. It didn’t however save the fence! Two parts fell down on either side of the house and while one neighbor chose to fix one my father and I fixed the other. Later to find out that it wasn’t our responsability but the neighbors because he has a pool and dogs. As we put the last board back up their teenage son nicely tells us that his father was planning on fixing it. He came out when we started after I was chasing their dogs back in the backyard. Needless to say so many people have it worse. We were very lucky to only lose a few sections of fence. Quite a few people are still without power. I haven’t been able to sit down and scrap or design for a bit now. Eager to get back into it though.

Sorry for not updating sooner. My tooth that was giving me problems earlier in the month really gave me problems last week. My whole right side of my face was swollen beyond belief and the pain was horrid. It turns out that my oh so lovely (trust me I will be finding a new one) dentist prescribed me a child’s dosage on the antibiotics. It was inevitable that it would come back and hit me twice as hard and trust me it did. Just in time to spend most of Christmas in and out of the ER. Even a shot of Morphine didn’t touch on the pain. I felt so bad for my kids Christmas is such a kids holiday and they had to wait till the end of the day to even open a single present. When they did get to finally open them they loved everything and it totally made my day when they opened the last main one and screamed when they saw it was a Wii! I had Katie convinced they were unattainable. Andrew just sat there in disbelief. I think if that was the only present I had got them they would have been content with it.

Nothing new on the scrapping front. Soon though. Still in some pretty heavy meds that make my mind all fuzzy. Root canal is now on the 2nd so hopefully after that everything will be back to normal for me. The kids will be back in school soon too. Always easier to get stuff done during school hours.

I hope everyone has a Happy and safe New Years!

Wow this must be a posting miracle from me! Ok just kidding really 3 in one month not something to brag about. My point is though I am getting better. Andrew is on the mend. He is going back to school today. Hopefully I can get some presents wrapped before they get home.

Katie blew me away last night. She had a project for school that she had due today and I told her I would help her by typing it out and printing it. She had to write it first though. She had to continue a story of a child who was in an internment camp. Her ending wasn’t “and they lived happily ever after”. In a way I am proud of her for seeing the world as it really is and in another sad that she does. Kids growing up, so not ready for it!

Sadly I am leaving Digital Candy at the end of this month. They are a great group of girls. I will miss being a part of it. There will be a half off sale the 21st-31st though.

I will however still be at Just for the Scrap of it. I am starting a chat this weekend which will run every Saturday at 9pm eastern time. I had wanted it to start last weekend but well sometimes life happens. Babette has also started a Goody Giveaway. I am so excited that today is my day! A freebie is put up for 24 hours for you guys to grab and then into the store it goes.