This goes out to anyone listening

On an English keyboard the @ is above the apostrophe ('), and the speech marks (") are above the 2. On an American keyboard the apostrophe and speech marks are both on the same key down by the Enter button, and the @ is above the 2.
(That's probably as clear as mud, but take and look and you'll see what I mean!)

Today is Blest and Danny's 12th Wedding Anniversary. They've been out this afternoonevening and I've been looking after the boys. I had something up my sleeve to occupy them though - Dance Praise 2. It's a one of those with a dance pad that you hook up to the computer, and it kept them (and me!) entertained for about an hour and a half. And during that length of time I think pretty much every other song that the danced to was a tobyMac song. But that's ok cos his songs are cool, and actually I bought myself one of his CDs in the sales the other day. His songs are very catchy, in fact I'm listening to them right now :-)

An assortment of thoughts

I will have just trained my fingers to find the @ key on an American keyboard by the time I go home, and will then have to spend the next 3 months reteaching myself where to find it on an English keyboard.

I'm at home this morning (the van is still not fixed, so all the rest of the family have gone to church and I'm staying home to catch up on some emailing and blogging and listening to a sermon online from my church back home) and it's great to have some peace and quiet! I've also been listening to a couple of Christmas songs, even though it's past Christmas (shh, don't tell blest!) But they're on my new CD, and I really like them!

Possibly later this morning or this afternoon I will get around to taking pictures of some of the things I've bought in the Christmas sales over the last couple of days. To leave you hanging, I'll just tell you that one of the things I bought was a most unexpected thing for me to buy, but I really like it...

Maybe one day I will remember to carry a notebook around with me to write down all the things I think of to blog about when I'm out and about in the van or truck with blest, but then can never remember when I actually get a chance to be online!

Christmas Day, the photo version

A couple of parcels arrived from my family arrived on Christmas Eve and Blest sneaked them away without me knowing about them. She wrapped them up and labelled them as from Santa, so when I opened the present up it was a great surprise :-)

I just love the title of this book.
HP put these foam letters in as packaging and to spell out a message (this was taken before I had found the w, so it actually says 'Debbie e love you', but there was a w in the second package!)
A little taste of the chaos that ensued.
I met a German lady at the Cantata the other week - In fact I was sat next to her and as we were both there fairly early I thought I would say hello to her and we got chatting. She has invited me to go and stay with them for a weekend in January, and on Sunday she dropped off a big bag full of presents for me, and one for Blest as well.
Nothing says Christmas like weaponry, and the boys got lots!Benny got a new toy violin (to replace the same one he'd had before which got broken as a consequence of existing in a house with four boys). He was over the moon about it.
We had a great time opening presents, and I loved being able to witness the excitement and enthusiasm of the boys (and I wasn't far behind in my excitement levels!). I felt so loved by not only my family, but also by blest's. I was overwhelmed by the love and kindness of both Danny and blest's parents and blest's brother and his family. I guess I knew deep down that if you spend three months living with someone you become a part of their family, but Christmas Day this year really illustrated that to me. So thank you again to everyone that made it a really memorable and special day.

Merry Christmas from this rowdy lot!

Christmas Time

Well this was the first time I've been away from my family for Christmas, but I've had a lovely day. I'm too tired to write much about it tonight, but there are hopefully some photos to put up and some stories to tell tomorrow. I just want to thank everyone who has made it a great day - thank you for making me feel so loved.
Now I'm about ready for bed, but probably won't make it there for another hour or two, oh well!

Merry Christmas to All

I was going to sit down this evening and write an email to lots of my friends back home, and either also post it or write something equally enthralling here. Unfortunately I didn't take into account my total lack of brain power. So instead, here's a short message to you all...

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
Enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus.

The Moon

Yesterday afternoon\evening we went out to pick up some last minute bits and pieces and do the Walmart Christmas shop. Dusk was falling and the sky turned beautiful shades of red and orange. And then we saw the moon. It was a full moon and looked huge. I swear I've never seen it look that big back home, which leads me to my question...

Is the moon actually 'bigger' here because we're nearer to the equater and therefore slightly nearer to the moon, or is it to do with the desert atmosphere here, or what? Does anyone have any insight into this, because it'd be really cool to know why.

Cheerio Wars

That's what's going on right now.

Why is it that when child A doesn't finish his cheerios, child B comes along and wants starts eating them, then child C comes over, complains that B is eating A's cheerios while simultaneously taking a handful for himself? Oh well, B and C are merrily eating the cheerios and A is completely oblivious and over on the other side of the room, so I think I'll just let them get on with it.

The Sounds of Christmas

Beth-luh-hem or Beth-lee-hem
Which do you say?

Good Morning, Good Yawning

That phrase comes from the book 'The Patchwork Cat' which was a favourite of mine when I was little.

Yesterday got better as the day went on. I wasn't feeling amazing and was kind of coughy, but when I eventually did get on the treadmill and then had a long shower and got dressed in proper clothes, rather than work-out clothes (around 4.30pm) I actually felt a bit better. It probably also helped that during the afternoon the boys watched a DVD* and I had a doze on the sofa. Thank you Snowbreeze for de-lurking and leaving me a lovely comment. When I read it I had already had a shower and I can quite understand the power of hot water!

*Andrew wants me to tell you that the DVD was Davy Crockett.

Today I've been awake since before six, but I'm feeling remarkably awake. I've done my weights but haven't been on the treadmill yet today because I had inspiration to write this post, so I'm doing that before I forget again.

The boys and I have a great secret idea that we've working on a little bit this morning. There's still more that needs to be done, but I think the recipients will enjoy it once it's complete :-)
Blest is out right now at a doctor's appointment, but when she gets back I think we plan to just have a fairly gentle day, perhaps folding some laundry or wrapping some presents if we're feeling really productive.

At some point I have a couple more gifts to buy, but I think blest and I will probably go out and get those tomorrow and then I think I will be done with gift shopping. I have three boys sitting around me watching me type, and they seem to have stolen my inspiration, so I guess I'll end this post here.

Can't think of a single thing to write

You know where you're in that frame of mind where you really really want to write something, but haven't got a clue what? Well that's where I am at the moment.

So here's a Chistmas tree for you to look at while I decide what to write.
/\
/ \
/ \
---
[]

And since I can't even get the formatting to work right on that I think I'll give up and try to write something later on when I will hopefully be in a better mood than I am right now.

Honey

We've just been reading this article and discovering just how many things we've been doing wrong with the dog at this particular season in her life.

We're just working on the idea that this will be a great schooling opportunity for the boys, or put another way, a life lesson to blest in how to teach her boys the facts of life.

Papa don't preach, my dog's in trouble

Ok, so she's not my dog, and we don't know for sure, but there's been a stray hanging around and it's got into the backyard this evening, so we're thinking she could be....

Also, I just beat Blest at scrabble. This event must be marked down in the history books in case it never happens again!

Also also, go congratulate Kathleen and family on the birth of Andrew Patrick.

He makes me smile

Me: I will get your banana now.
Benny: Oh good job Ms Debs.

Ponderings

As we set out to go to the Mall after lunch today I mentioned to blest that I had two potential posts going around in my head, they just needed some developing. Unfortunately they didn't develop very far, so instead I shall combine those two half ideas to create one post. Sheer Genius.

The first thought was about teeth cleaning. As I cleaned my teeth after lunch I thought it might be interesting to take a poll of how people clean their teeth. Do they
a. Move their hand holding the brush
b. Move their head and mouth
c. Do a bit of both

Ok, so I know that's actually not a very interesting poll, but I was cleaning my teeth and suddenly wondered just how I was doing it, because it felt like I wasn't particularly moving my hand or my head, and yet all my teeth were getting brushed, but then I realised that I must move hand and head.

Hmm, I have a feeling no one will actually find that interesting, so lets hurry on to pondering number two.

Today the weather has been pretty cold. There's a bit of a wind and a real chill in the air, and yet if you look outside it looks like a beautiful day. It's not like in England where it would generally be cloudy and cold, or just not look very inviting. Somehow the sun continues to shine and from all appearances it looks like a beautiful sunny day, until you actually go outside and discover just how wrong you were.

some of life's essentials

1. My dressing gown. I have worn it 'most everyday since I arrived (in fact the only day I haven't worn it was the first day, and that was because it was in the suitcase that hadn't arrived yet). I don't think I've had a dressing gown since I was a kid, but it had gotten too big for Bekki so she said I could have it. So thank you Bekki, because I love it.


2. My MP3 player. I've never had one before, but I'm glad I got it, because I love being able to stick it on and listen to all my music from home. It's especially good for when we work out. Sometimes we listen to Rockapella, and I'm pretty sure they're a new favourite of mine, but sometimes I want the unpredictability of the shuffle function, just because you never know what you're gonna get next.

3. The Internet. Putting aside the fact that I wouldn't be here in Texas without the Internet, I love how easy it is to keep in touch with the folks back home, telling them and showing them what's going on here, and getting to hear their news (when they remember to email me or comment on my posts!)

4. Hugs. People need hugs. I need more than the average person. Benny and blest, in particular are great at giving hugs. As is Andrew who is sitting right next to me on the sofa and wants me to hug him. Unfortunately it's tricky to hug someone and type at the same time!

Final post tonight

Just had to share with you what Andrew said this afternoon about the dog:

"We'll have to get her a Christmas present. What can we get her? How about we buy her a blouse, because that's what girls wear."

Many Many Posts

Ok, so this evening I've put up several posts. If you want to see the story from the start my advice would be to scroll down and start with the post entitled 'Some necessary background to my next post'.

DOG

blah blah blah and the stay dog - part 2 (couldn't remember what the part one post was called, but anyway this is the continuation)

This afternoon, around 1.30 or 2pm blest was going to take the older two boys out with her and go to the store to pick up some essentials like toilet paper, meanwhile I was going to stay home with the younger two and make a batch of my favourite homemade baked beans. However, a stray dog had other plans. She was wandering around in the front garden and trying to say hello to blest, Daniel and Andrew. Andrew was scared and kept screaming, and in the end I went out (and so did Benny and Joshua) to see if I could help calm Andrew down and get the dog to stay still so that the boys could get in the van. Daniel seemed to like the dog, but the others were definitely not happy about her. We did eventually manage to get all four boys out the way in the van and tried to figure out what to do with the dog.

She wasn't wearing a collar, but looked too well cared for to have been a stray for long. We don't know if she's just run away from home, or whether she's been dumped or left by her previous owners. We decided to try to get her into the backyard so that we could look after her while we try to locate her owner, if any. She wasn't keen on going through the house, but Daniel was able to lead her through the side gate and into the garden. We got her a bowl of water to drink as she seemed pretty thirsty. Daniel decided to stay to play with the dog, and Benny got out of the van too, but Joshy and Andrew when with blest to Sam's (big big shop, sells things in bulk, similar to Costco).

I got my beans going and put on a movie for Benny to watch. Daniel was happy playing out in the yard. When the others got home from Sam's blest went out to say hello to the dog and I went too. Joshua came out to sit with blest and me on the garden seat and gradually got more open to the idea that the dog was merely trying to kiss or lick him rather than bite him. Over the course of the afternoon all four of the boys came out to play see the dog and gradually got more confident to pet her without being scared that she would bite them. By the time blest and I came in to get dinner ready they were all playing out there and trying to make her a dog house and stuff like that. I have to say that this dog seems to have a really gentle temperament and has put up with the boys going from screaming the place down (when they first met her) to all wanting to pet and love her.

We've made posters which blest and Danny were going to put up as they went out this evening I believe, so hopefully if someone is looking for her then we will be able to reunite her with them. If that doesn't happen then I'm not sure what will happen to her. The boys have fallen in love with her and already think that they'll be keeping her, so I'm sure there will be some tears to come if we don't keep her. In that case we'll either have to find someone else who wants a dog of send her to a shelter and hope that she gets adopted. She's such a lovely dog that I'm sure she will find a new home soon if that's the case.

Once again this post is very long, so I'll do another post with the pictures I took of the dog, otherwise I'll had to spend ages fiddling with them to get them to go in the right places! I know my posts seems to be like London buses at the moment (none for ages, but then several come along at once) but some days just have more blogging material than others!

Plumbing pictures

Not sure if you can tell, but we pulled out the dresser and the plumber set up his dustsheet and ladder directly below the hole (top, middle of picture)
And here's the hole that's still in the ceiling as I type (the plumbing company will fix the plumbing stuff, but not the holes they have to make to do that!)

One of those days where you have water coming through the ceiling and later a stay dog comes to visit

Ok, so this may be long and have to be written in two parts, but I shall do my best. Everyone else is out at AWANA but I decided to stay home and have some 'me time' and try to do some blogging. I've spent the last couple of hours catching up on blog reading and tidying in the kitchen, so I've probably used most of my brain power already. However, I have lots of photos to illustrate the post, so feel free to skip on to them if I'm boring you!


This morning started pretty much like any other. I got up around 7am and found blest downstairs drinking her coffee. The boys all slept a little later than usual, but I think they were just tired and needed to catch up on sleep. We ate breakfast and got dressed in our workout clothes and all that sort of stuff and were in blest's room about to start working out. I was gonna start on the treadmill and blest was gonna do weights. Blest thought she saw something drip from the ceiling onto the dresser, but assumed it must have been her imagination because we thought the problem was fixed. A minute or two later we both saw several more drips fall and that there was a water stain that hadn't been there before, and that it was gradually getting bigger. At that point we did the best thing two women could do in that situation - blest rang Danny, and he told us which plumbing company to call.

I think the conversation blest had with the company was pretty much went 'help, I have water coming through my ceiling and I don't want the toilet and tub to come crashing down into my master bedroom, come right away' and they were very good and did come pretty quick. In the meantime we fitted in some workout time, but were slightly concerned as we knew we were unlikely to be able to fit in showers before the plumber arrived, and if the water was going to be turned off then we would have to go smelly for the rest of the day! In the event the guy didn't need to turn off the water at all, so we were fine.

He looked over the ceiling and in the bathroom and came up with an estimate for what he thought was fixing a problem with the tub drainage. However, once he cut a hole in the ceiling he saw a lot more water and sent me to go up and flush the toilet. Apparently a whole lot of water came splashing down at that point, so we knew it was the toilet not the bathtub. The plumber guy did his stuff and once he'd finished he flushed the toilet and not a single drop fell down. The final bill came to less than the estimate, we didn't have to have the water switched off and it was fixed pretty quickly, so although it was not an ideal situation we thank God that it wasn't a lot worse!

Ok, this post is way too long already, so I will write about the dog in part 2.

Some necessary background to my next post...

Some time last week (Thursday or Friday I think) blest found some white stuff on her dresser and noticed there was a patch on the ceiling where the sheet rock had come down. We agreed we ought to tell Danny, and then kind of forgot about it for the rest of the day. On Saturday she saw it again and called to Danny to come and look, just as she finished her sentence another chunk fell so she hollered for him to come straight away (just as she had to do when I was blacking out, but anyway....)

Danny ended up cutting away some of the sheet rock off the ceiling and catching a fair amount of water in a bucket. After measuring and stuff he decided it must be the bath (my bathroom is directly above their bedroom) and after calling some people and stuff he figured out what he had to do to fix it. Meanwhile we (blest and I) were out and about so I don't actually know what it was that he did, but he thought it was fixed. He went out of town on Sunday so we decided to wait until he was back before we tried that shower out, as we didn't want to have to deal with the consequences without him around. (Don't worry, I have still been showering, just not in that bathroom!)

Blest's hair

Happening as I type...

The Boys Talk At Ya

Andrew's Message:
So far I've tried to practice 'Charlie Brown' comics. At some point I want a FORCE ACTION
lightsaber, a clarinet, and 'The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything' finger puppets and puppet theater."Where's God When I'm S-scared?" is part of my favorite video (and all I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth). Oh, one more thing.


EAT YOUR HEART OUT!

Joshua's Message
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jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj
vvvvvvvvvvvvvccccccccccsssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss
ssssssssssssssss
sssssssssssssssssss
cccccccccccccca
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaaaaaaaahssssssssssssssssssssssss


Daniel's Message:
I hope Joshua's message made you laugh.He just went crazy over the keyboard {not to mention he's only four}.


Benny's Message:
I want to watch Barrage: Vagaband Tales, but we can't find it. And Barrage: The World On Stage on Barrage.com! Barrage is cool. VeggieTales the Star of Christmas and the Toy that Saved Christmas is boring.

Stranded at the drive-in

I am astounded by just how many things you can do at the drive-in here in VeggieTales which is Andrew's favorite video.

Hey, my blog post just got hijacked by a certain young man. I decided to leave what he wrote for its comedy value, and to go ahead and start again.

I am astounded by just how many things you can do at the drive-in here in Texas. So far I've seen that you can
Withdraw and deposit money
Drop off and collect your dry cleaning
Buy beverages (notably coffee!)
Buy food (we've been to Burger King)
Collect a prescription

To all you Americans reading this, what else can you do from the comfort of your car?

That's just wrong

This afternoon when we had just got home from the party and Goodwill I heard a noise outside. It was an icecream van. Oh yes my friends, an icecream van was out and about selling it's wares on the 5th December. How wrong is that?! (On the way home the thermometer in the car said that it was 71 degrees F. I am gonna get such a shock when I go home at the beginning of February)

Christmas is here, nearly

Today I got to go with blest and the rest of the family to the Danny's Office Christmas party on base. It was quite exciting to get to go on a military base as I don't think I've ever done that before. The party was great and we got to play a cool present game. Each person that wants to play brings a gift (which is worth X amount or less to make it fair). Numbers are put into a hat and everyone picks one out to discover the order they get to pick presents. The first person, who had the number one, picks a present from under the tree. The second person can either steal the present from number one or pick another present from under the tree. Each present can only be stolen 3 times (so if you get it the forth time then you are guaranteed to keep it). As the game goes on there are more and more presents that can be stolen, and if someone has stolen your present you can either steal from someone else or pick from under the tree. The game ends when the last present is picked from the tree. I'm sure I didn't explain that well, but trust me it's a fun game to play!

After the party we stopped at Goodwill on the way home. I found a couple of books and a pair of trousers which are purple and stripey which I will wear as pajamas, and then once they become too big I will probably cut them up and turn them into something else like a bag or cushion covers or something because the material is much too cool to just get rid of!

This evening most of the family are out at AWANA, and blest is also at church at a cantata rehearsal. I stayed home with Benjamin because he didn't want to go, and he's got a special treat coming tomorrow evening which will have him being out late with his Daddy, so it's probably good that he's had an early night tonight. I decided that I was pretty tired after being out most of the day and that a night in catching up on emails and doing a bit of Christmas shopping online would probably be more restful that being at AWANA with lots of lovely, yet noisy children!

Tomorrow the two oldest boys have piano lessons at 9am so I'll probably be staying home with the younger two, and then we'll have a fairly gentle time for the rest of the day, probably getting some cleaning and stuff done, but nothing too strenuous.

Since we had the snow Joshua and Benny have been constantly wishing all and sundry a happy Christmas. Things like watching Christmasy DVDs, singing Christmas songs and going to a Christmas party have only reinforced their belief that it is actually Christmas now. I'm guessing that from now until probably several days after Christmas they will continue to wish people a Happy Christmas!

Good Morning All

Well I woke up this morning and realised almost immediately (after I'd registered that someone was playing a piano) that I didn't have a headache for the first time in a couple of days. I still feel delicate and a bit light headed if I try to do anything too quickly, but I'm pretty certain I'm on the road to recovery.

The story of yesterday

Ok, here it is in all it's glory, the story of what happened to me yesterday.

We've had a really busy week, well actually weeks - seems like we've been doing a million things ever since I arrived here in Texas, but anyway yesterday blest and I were both feeling pretty tired and generally yuck. Over the course of the day my head started to ache, and by the afternoon I had a full on headache and it was starting to make me feel really sick. I went to lie down on my bed and slept for a couple of hours. When I woke up I thought I felt better until I stood up again and the headache and sick feeling came back. I came back downstairs anyway to see what everyone else was doing and to get a drink of water.

I sat at the table with the boys while they ate their dinner, and then when Blest and Danny got something to eat, and managed to colour in a doodle that Blest had drawn (that has no relevance to the story really, but I did it, for some reason, so I thought I'd share it with you!). The thought of eating just made me feel worse, so I didn't! After dinner I'd stood up to get some more water and blest was talking to me and she asked me if I was alright saying I'd turned really pale. I felt like I was going to be sick and tried to head for the bathroom when it happened. I felt really dizzy and everything went red. I couldn't see anything and all I could hear was this buzzing noise in my ears. I guess I was blacking out, but all I knew was that I was frightened and couldn't see or hear. Blest says I wasn't even walking in the right direction to get the bathroom, and that I walked into a pillar not once but twice. That's when she realised that something must be wrong and came over and yelled for Danny. I don't really know what happened, I vaguely remember trying to cling on to the pillar to try to stop the world from wobbling around so much, and then Blest and Danny coming over and trying to help me. The next thing I knew I was sitting on the ground and my vision and hearing were gradually coming back to me. It was like shapes were reappearing out of a red sea, and I could hear people asking me if I was ok. I felt all light headed and my head wouldn't stop hurting.

I don't remember a lot of the rest of the evening. They found my insurance documents and my shoes and coat and then Danny took me to the Emergency Room and I had to fill out a form with my name, date of birth, address and such like. I kept having to check with Danny that I was writing the right things, and what my address and phone number here were. After waiting a while I was taken through to have my blood pressure and pulse taken, then had to go and wait in another waiting area. I sat there for I don't know how long before someone came and took me into a cubicle.

I had to answer lots of questions and tell them about all the medication I'm taking and stuff like that. I think the guy asking the questions (I have no idea if he was a nurse or a doctor or what) was from Kenya and he was looking at my medication and saying things like "oh we use that in Kenya too. Did you get this here or in England?" and I must have said about ten times "yes, it's all from England". He asked me lots of questions, and I think took my blood pressure a couple more times before saying 'that's perfect'. I felt like Goldilocks at the house of the three bears (the first time it was too high, the second time it was too low, the third time it was perfect!) People kept asking me about London and telling me places in Europe that they had been to. One guy (I think the doctor from Dallas) told me that he had been to London and Amsterdam, and all I could think (but didn't say luckily!) was "oh, that's nice. I haven't!"

I was taken from that cubicle to another one further along and lay there for some period of time. A woman kept coming in and saying that the doctor would see me soon, but that first she needed to know when my last tetanus shot was, and had I had a flu injection, and was I sure I wasn't pregnant. I think I managed to answer all those questions correctly, but I don't really "remember. Finally a doctor came along and asked me some more questions, and told me he was from Dallas and flew to work every day. I remember saying "seriously?" several times and he told me it was true. After all the questions he told me that basically I didn't have anything major wrong, and they didn't know what could be causing the headache. They gave me a diagnosis of 'non-specific headache' and a script for some medication which ought to help.

I was handed several sheets of paper and then led to the exit by another man. He took me through a door and I had to wait to see another person to give him details of my insurance and again tell them my address and phone number. I don't know why they wanted to know so many times rather than just looking at my notes where they had already written it down. I could remember the address, but not my telephone number. Luckily I had that written down on a piece of paper in the folder along with all the insurance documentation. Finally I got to go back to the waiting room where Danny was waiting. I realised I must have been in there a long time, but didn't really have any idea how long. I was still feeling light-headed and in a dream world.

The insurance guy had told me to try Walgreens to get my script filled and Danny took me to one. Unfortunately the pharmacy there had already shut and we had to try a second Walgreens before we could try to get my medication. I waited in long line there, and when I finally got to the front of the queue they told me I had to go to a different window. Luckily there was no one there and I was able to hand over my prescription. Initially the woman there was unsure if they had the medication I needed, which seemed like the last straw, but she went off to check and came back to say they had the generic version and would that be ok. I think by this time I would probably have agreed to anything so just said yes. She took down all my details again, and thank goodness Danny was there to tell her the address and phone number because I had no idea by this point! I finally thought (at 11pm) that she would be giving me the pain killers any minute when she said "there'll be up to a 30 minute wait, we'll call your name when they're ready". By this point I'd had enough and really didn't want to be responsible for keeping Blest and Danny up any longer so I asked if we could pick them up tomorrow and we headed home. I have vague memories of talking about four way stop signs and street names on the way home, but I think I was probably just babbling by that point.

When we got home Blest was still up and welcomed us in. I took some paracetamol and then Blest suggested I should try to eat something so that I didn't have the medicine on an empty stomach, so I had a couple of bites of an oatmeal muffin, but then went a beautiful shade of pale again and just about made it to the bathroom in time before I was sick. (I'm sorry everyone, too much information, I know!). Eventually I was able to make it to bed with a glass of water and slept through until this morning. Well, I say slept through, I kept having bizarre dreams and waking up at odd times, but managed to stay in bed until about half past seven.

This morning we drove to pick up my medication and I've had one tablet. I think it's helping a bit with the headache, although I'm still aware of it being there, and still feel a bit lightheaded if I get up too quickly. I'd appreciate prayer that the drugs help and that I recover totally swiftly, and definitely that I don't have a repeat of the blacking out thing, because that was not fun.

(Not so) Quick Catch up post 2

On Sunday we went to church as we usually do. The way it works is that I usually go to Sunday School, which is small group bible study and teaching and the group I'm in happens during the second church service. Then after that we go to the third church service. Anyway, this week I arrived and there was no one there apart from one guy I didn't recognise. As we both stood there wondering what was going on a lady came out from the room next door and pointed us toward a poster. It turns out that on the first Sunday of the month my group meets in Starbucks down the road.

The guy and I walked out of the building and down towards the car park. He asked me where I was parked and I said I didn't have a car because I'd arrived with the family I'm staying with so he said he'd give me a lift, even though he wasn't entirely sure which Starbucks we were meant to be coming to. It actually wasn't until we were in the car that I realised that we hadn't introduced ourselves to one another yet! I don't really make a habit of getting into cars with strange men, and I figure since I'd met him in church he was unlikely to be a raving lunatic, but I guess you never really know! Next time I'll make sure I at least know the name of the person giving me a lift somewhere...

After church there was more excitement of a kind. Blest was staying around the area because she had rehearsal for the cantata and it's not really worth going home inbetween church and rehearsal, so I was going home with the rest of the family in the van. We were all loaded up, Danny tried to start the van and it wouldn't go. The engine would turn over, but wouldn't catch.
To cut a very long story short, they were able to get in touch with a guy from the church who is a mechanic and he came back to take a look. Apparently it was something to do with the spark plugs (I think, anyway) and required some parts. Danny took the boys and myself home in the truck and then went back to church to help with the repairs, which took several hours and he was sill there when blest got out of rehearsals. Meanwhile I was looking after the boys at home, and on the whole they were very good. By the time blest and Danny were back home everyone was exhausted, and yet we still somehow stayed up until ten o'clock talking. Big mistake, because by the time Monday morning came we were still tired and a bit grumpy too.

Quick Catch up post 1

On Saturday we did go to the Christmas fair and blest did sell some jewelry. Unfortunately not as much as we might have liked, but it's all experience and blest was able to pick up some ideas of how to do things differently next time. By the time we got home and had had dinner we were really exhausted which is why I didn't blog then.

Here's the deal

Blest has a jewelry sale today so all this week we've been getting ready for it, add to that a doctor's appointment and all the usual time commitments (piano and drum lessons, AWANA, ladies bible study etc) we've been really really busy which is why I haven't blogged much this week. The sale is today, so hopefully thnigs may calm down soon, although there's still the Christmas Cantata and several more doctor's appointments in the near future.

Yesterday I got the chance to look after all four boys while blest was out running errands and stuff, and they were all pretty much still in one piece when she got home, so I don't think I did too bad a job. Actually, it seemed to be one of those days when children attract accidents unto themselves, and we had several bumps scrapes and tears, but they came out smiling in the end.

Last night we had a few more things to get and also went into Lane Bryant. I tried on lots of things (although no pictures this time) and although several were from the clearance rack, neither of the two things I likes best were from there. I decided to get a pretty purple patterned top and leave the turquoise zippy top behind (It was really pretty, so if anyone needed an idea for Christmas presents...)

Right, think it's time to go and get dressed and figure out what else I need to do before we leave.