If you haven’t read about Jayden’s toenail yet, you might want to read it first. 

When Jayden had me put on his socks after the “surgery”, we found out this evening, that he never wanted to take them off.  The socks were obviously what was making his toe feel better.  I got him back up on the counter this evening to show Royal what I’d accidentally done, and as soon as I got the sock off, he started whining and kicking his foot around saying, ’sock on, sock on’.  After we got a quick glance at the dried, bloody thing, I grabbed the sock and Jayden perked right up.  He stuck his foot out and said, ‘bye bye foot’.

Later on in the evening, Jayden was obviously getting tired (it had been quite a traumatic day), he kept crying over little things, so I suggested, ‘how about a bath?’.  All the sudden, all the tears were gone and it was, ‘come on, mom’ and ‘come on, dad’, as we headed up the stairs.  We get the bath going, start taking his clothes off, ’till he was down to his diaper and socks.  We pull his socks off, and all the sudden he can no longer stand on his hurt foot.  He holds it up in the air saying, ‘toe, toe’.   Even taking off his diaper and mentioning the bath again couldn’t stop the pain of his now dried, bloody toe being exposed to air.  So, I suggested something again.  I said, ‘do you want your socks back on?’.  Jayden said through his tears, ‘yes’ (sniff, sniff).  So, I put his socks back on and I said, ‘do you still want to take a bath?’.   Jayden said, ‘yes’ this time with no tears.  (magic socks, I tell ya).  So, in the bath he went.  Check out the feet.

Getting out of the bath was a little traumatic, since we had to take the wet socks off.  But things got a little easier when Jayden realized his ‘jams’ (pajamas) had ’socks’ (feet pajamas) attached to them.  It was tough getting wet feet into his ‘jams’ though, since he wouldn’t let me touch them with a towel.  Obviously I’ve traumatized him with this whole accidental ripping off of the toenail thing.  I hope he doesn’t have an issue with me (or air for that matter) touching his feet forever.

Months ago Jayden pulled a heavy wooden stepstool over and smashed his big toe on his left foot really good.  So good, that he instantly had a black bruise on the bottom of his toenail and the top of his toe was all red and purple.  I knew that toenail was never gonna make it.  He’s been using his toenail to try and get a lot of attention.  If I’m not paying attention to him and he wants me to, he’ll go over to a wall, look at me, pretend kick the wall with his hurt toe, and then try and force himself to cry saying, ‘ooohhhh, tooooooeeeee’.  I’ve been keeping an eye on the toenail to see if it was falling off and for the past month or so, the bottom has been totally lifted off, you can look up inside his toenail if you want to.  But the edges were still connected, so I wasn’t going to tear it off or anything.  The last couple of days, he’s been snagging his toe while wrestling around on the ground.  I guess I could of just put a pair of socks on him, but instead, today I decided I’d see if I could just cut off the chunk of nail that seemed to be bothering him.  I put him up on the counter, (which he never gets to do at our house) and gave him a pillow (a.k.a towel).  He was so excited to get to be on the counter that he just laid down on his pillow and was really still while I examined his toe.  I slipped my scissors under the nail and was about to slice off a chunk when Jayden jerked his foot.  I grabbed his foot and looked at his toe and his poor nail was gone!  Guess he wanted to take it off quick like a bandaid, not chunk by chunk over the next few weeks.  He let me put a wet towel on it for awhile to stop some of the bleeding, but then he didn’t want me to touch it anymore.  He kept saying, ‘bye bye toe, bye bye toe’.  His toe wasn’t bleeding that bad, but I still didn’t want little blood marks all over the place, so I asked if he wanted a pair of socks.  He says, ‘Yes! sock on, sock on, two sock on’.  Luckily, he let me take a picture of his new toenailess bloodytoe!

I am in such a knitting rut.  I haven’t hardley picked up needles since the Christmas knitting frenzy ended.  I mean, really, I pretty much burnt myself out on knitting since I started my Christmas knitting this year around October (the end, no less), and I usually start my planning, buying of yarn, and executing sometime around August.  Maybe I was feeling like, who would really want another knitted thing from me?  who would want another pair of slippers?  who would want another felted bag?  another fantastic hat? socks? mittens?  sweaters?  really?? who cares???  I don’t really even care if what I make people gets used.  I just like to make things and presents are a great excuse.  Well this year, I wasn’t going to give people knitted things.  Then, it came closer to Christmas and I came up with lots of ideas of things to knit people - drum stick cozy (who wants to play with cold drum sticks?? not me), ipod cozy, felted crowns, lacy hats, felted bags, etc… but I was so short on time.  I only finished part of what I wanted to get done, and I pretty much was sick of my fingers cramping every night, that by the time Christmas rolled around I was never going to pick up knitting needles again.  But then, I got yarn gift certificates for Christmas, and you can’t put those things to waste, so my idea for burning all my needles put itself on the back shelf and I decided I wouldn’t give up so easily.  Really, when have I ever been a quitter?

However, I still haven’t decided what I want to go buy with my gift certificates.  What kind of yarn?  Do I want to spend it all on one project and get really fantastic yarn and make a really fantastic sweater?  Or do I want to spend it on a bunch of little things.  Yarn for felted things, something to make for Jayden, maybe a tank top for me, or a shrug, or things like that.  You see, I am so not inspired. 

In the attempt to get inspired, I have gone through most of my patterns, rearranged all my scrap yarn to see if there was anything there that I could make something out of.  I made a really ugly washcloth just because the only 2 colors of cotton I had left was orange and turquoise, so ugly I don’t even care to weave in the ends.  I didn’t even have enough yarn to actually make it full size.  Well, I did have a little red cotton left, but do you really think red would of made this washcloth any better?  I think not…  I found some wool in blue and yellow and knitted up this little envelope purse that needs to be felted now.  But really, it’s going to be ugly too.  I think it’s going to be so ugly, I have no desire to even stick it in the washing machine and see what it felts into.  Now, who would want to go into a yarn store and buy yarn when obviously this little rut I’m in does nothing but make me pick out ugly yarn and make ugly things out of it???  Right before I started posting this, I cast on 45 stitches in a lovely green tweed with the idea of making this circular never-ending scarf.  And while I really like the yarn right now, when I’m finished, this could be the ugliest scarf to ever leave a pair of needles.  What to do, what to do….

When I saw Jessica Seinfeld on the Today show with her new cookbook, Deceptively Delicious, I was totally hooked.  I am always on the prowl for healthier and better ways of making things.  I am not a huge vegetable eater, it’s totally not my favorite part of the meal, but I fix them and eat them because I know they are good of me and my family.  So, when I saw Jessica’s cookbook about using vegetables purees in your food, I thought, ‘why the heck didn’t I think of that?’.   It’s just like making babyfood.  I wanted to go out and get the cookbook, but since Christmas was a couple months away, Royal had banned me from going out and buying anything.  So, until I had the cookbook in my hands, I figured I could improvise.  I puree’d up a bunch of stuff and have been sneaking it into a bunch of our meals.  But then Christmas finally rolled around and I finally got the cookbook, and now I had a ton more ideas for how and where to put vegetables.  The one thing that I was extremely disappointed about with the recipes, is that they use margarine.  Margarine is nothing but a tub full of toxins, and I refuse to use it.  I obviously subsitute in butter, but I was still sad that this now extremely popular cookbook is getting people to use margarine under the pretense that it’s “healthy” food.  The vegetables are healthy, the margarine not so much….  Anyways… in the cookbook there was a recipe for chocolate cupcakes, and I figured if they could put vegetables in chocolate and make it taste good, I was sold.  So, Jayden and I set out this morning to make some deceptively delicious cupcakes.  The recipe didn’t use butter at all, it had strange ingredients like avocado and balsamic vinegar.  When my batter started out looking like this, I was a little worried. (Jayden looks a little worried too)

But thank goodness after adding the cocoa powder, it started looking more like normal chocolate cake batter.

We baked ‘em up and let ‘em cool and I figured since they smelled pretty good, I would at least try the frosting that was with the recipe as well.  The frosting called for cream cheese and cauliflower.  I mixed it up and frosted the cupcakes and we tried it out.  The cupcake was really good.  It was more dense like a made from scratch cupcake usually is, it wasn’t as sugary tasting, but I still thought they were delicious.  I would make them again.  The frosting on the other hand, it was ok.  It just tasted kinda off, as I imagined frosting made from cauliflower would.  I think next time I’ll add more powdered sugar and some milk to make it sweeter, or maybe next time I’ll skip the “healthier” frosting and make some good stuff.  After all, these are cupcakes.  

Jayden’s Grandma Norma made him a new apron for helping around the kitchen.  So, today we decided to try it out and make some cookies.

Thanks Gramma Norma!

While in Phoenix, Brendan took lots of pictures with my camera.  Every once in awhile, I would be sitting somewhere and I’d see a bright flash out of the corner of my eye.  It, of course, would be Brendan, somewhere in the house, taking lots of pictures of things.  So, when I downloaded all the pictures off my camera when I came home, there were lots of surprises!

Find all of Brennie’s pictures here!

Jayden and I had so much fun in Phoenix with the Wagner family!  Jayden did great on the airplane rides.  Somebody recommended this stuff called Calm Forte that they use with their kids when they fly to New York, so I thought I’d bring it along just in case.  And it seemed to work great.  On the flight to Phoenix, Jayden was in dire need of a nap, but he was obviously too excited about being on an airplane, so when he started getting a little too wild (too wild being trying to fling himself over the backside of the seat, instead of just jumping around on it), I gave him a couple of the calm pills.  They worked pretty good, it didn’t make him all drugged out, it just took him down a notch so he stopped trying to pat the sleeping guys head in front of us, or fluff up the grandma’s hair sitting next to us, he could keep his hands to himself and be okay about it.  On the flight home, Jayden kept laying his head down on the seat headrest, while talking to the baby who was sitting behind us, and he needed a nap, so I thought I’d give the calm pills another try.  I gave him a couple and a few minutes later, he sits on the seat, asks for his blanky, then lays down on his back with his head on my legs, we sing a couple songs, and he’s out for the count!  Hallelujia!  It was a great last hour of the flight!

For the most part, we hung out at the house with Kaylee, Brendan, and Wyatt.  All 3 boys got along pretty darn well.  Wyatt and Jayden had a bit of a rivalry going, but by the end of the trip Jayden was pushing Wyatt back and learning how to steal his toys back.  He did come home with a very distinct knowledge of the word ‘mine’.  Last time he was with the Wagner boys, they taught him how to growl, so Jayden growled around the house for a week or so.  Now, Jayden insists of showing me everything thing that is his (’mine!’)

The half marathon went great (at least for me!).  I finished in around the time I thought I would, but my legs felt really good afterwards, so obviously I could of run it faster.  Oh well, next time!   I met up with Teresa and Teddy Wenner right before the race and ran with them almost the entire way.  It was fun to get to talk with someone while I was running.  I’ve done all my training for the last couple races alone, and sometimes those long runs get lonely.  Jayden usually doesn’t provide much conversation from his stroller, other than demanding, ‘water!’ and ’mo’ pretzels!’  I actually credit Jayden for why my legs felt better after this race than any other.  Nothing like training while pushing a stroller to make 13 miles without one seem easy!  Kaylee walked the half marathon, and did pretty good despite the fact that she hardley trained for it.  She ended up turning one pinky toe into an entire blister, and managed to lift off a different toe’s toenail.   Our mom, didn’t fair so well.  She didn’t train for it at all, and decided the day before the race that she was going to do it.  She finished, but then ended up in the medic’s tent right after she crossed the finish line, and sat down, which might have been a big mistake.  Her legs couldn’t help her heart pump her blood around her body, and since a big part of her blood was now down in her legs, there was none getting to her head.  So, she pretty much wanted to pass out.  She laid in the medic’s tent for 45mins, while they kept checking her heart-rate.  It was good while she laid down, but as soon as she stood up, it dropped and she wanted to pass out.  So, they ended up calling an ambulance and taking her to the ER.  Kaylee and I stayed with her until they loaded her up, and then we had to try and find our car to call people to let them know what happened and try and find the hospital.  Well, we couldn’t figure out where our parking garage was.  (this was a race, where you parked near the finish line and then took a shuttle to the start line, so we were trying to guess what direction the parking garage was)  Finally, after walking around a mile and a half, talking to 1 rude cop who sent us in the wrong direction, and 1 nice cop who understood we didn’t want to walk anymore and told us right where to go, we found our car.   Once we got some food to eat and got into the hospital, we discovered the waiting room and ER was full of marathoners.  We went back to mom’s room to tell her, she wasn’t the only one that ended up there, there was a whole handful of people with their finishing medals around their necks, laying in hospital beds, hooked up to IVs.  A few hours later, they finally released mom and we made it home.  We left the house around 6:30 that morning and came back around 7:00 that night.  That was one long day.

We did lots of other things while we were down there, maybe I’ll get around to posting about them one of these days…  Going to Chuck E Cheese, visiting with Greg and Linda, visiting with Uncle Dan and Auntie Pam, going swimming in the pool at my parent’s RV park which was warm one day and freezing cold another, obsession and utter domination of Diner Dash, bon fires in the middle of winter, troubles with sleeping in the same room as Jayden, it just goes on and on.  But for right now, I’m going to go turn the heat up because it’s freezing here!!!

I’ve posted lots of pictures from the trip on the website.  You can find them here.

Well, Royal and I finished up the chair rail, but not without help.  We stayed up until 1am on Saturday nite/Sunday morning to finish it.  Fortunetly, our great friend Pam happened to be up to visit and she decided to stay and help us.  She’s another math guru, so we finally hashed out the formula for outside and inside corners and how to make the correct angle on the chop saw.  That way, we didn’t have to do so much trial and error.  Geometry was niether of our favorite subjects, so we were trying to avoid using it, but turns out we remembered enough!

Our realtor, Josh Arndt, came and put up a sign in our yard today.  There is someone coming to take pictures and do a virtual tour of our house on Wednesday.  So, it looks like we’re really doing it.  It never quite seems real until there is a sign in your front yard.  Guess I better get on the ball on getting financing, finding a house in Wichita, and getting a moving company to come and move us.  Hmmm, maybe when I get back from my trip.

Tonight, I’m packing up Jayden and myself for a 2 week trip to Phoenix.  We’re flying out tomorrow around 10:30 to go stay in the sunshine with Kaylee and her family.  My parents are also in the Phoenix area, so we’ll be seeing them too!  I’m a little nervous about flying with Jayden alone, but he’s usually such an easy kid so I’m probably freaking out about nothing, but there are always those days when he’s on a rampage.  Let’s just hope tomorrow isn’t one of them… On Sunday, I’m running in the Phoenix Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon, which I don’t totally feel prepared for, but I know I will finish.  Luckily, mom and dad have a hot tub at the RV park they are staying in, so I just might be taking advantage of that!

See you tomorrow afternoon Wagners!!!

Since Christmas, we have been getting our house ready to put on the market.  And let me tell you, it needed some major work.  Well, okay, nothing major major, but it needed some help.  I am a total saver.  I save everything.  And everytime I’ve moved I’ve thought to myself that this would be a great time to go through things and throw out what I don’t really want.  Well, I also love to pack, it’s like organizing.  So, I would get caught up in packing and get tired of having to slowly go through things and decide if I want them or not that I would convince myself that I could go through and throw things away while I was unpacking.  Yeah…that never happened either.  So, I basically had a house full of crapola.  NOT ANYMORE!   I have finally rid myself of lots of things I don’t need.  I had lots of conversations with myself that went something like this :

Save-it Me: Oh, I totally forgot I had this!
Get-Rid-of-it Me: Yea, it’s nice, but you don’t need it.
Save-it Me: But, I might, you never know.  Plus if I keep it here, I can run across it again someday and be pleasantly surprised that I forgot I had it.
Get-Rid-of-it Me: You haven’t thought about it for a long time, you haven’t used it or touched for a long time, I don’t think you are going to miss it.
Save-it Me: Ok, fine, but the next thing I find, I’m keeping it.

So, after lots of internal debates, I have finally purged myself of a ton of stuff.  All those bridesmaid dresses…gone!  Donated to a place that gives them to girls who can’t afford prom dresses.  Lots of clothes and shoes…donated (shoes from before my foot operation that I can no longer wear anymore - why did I keep those???), lots of papers that were from my ATT Wireless/Cingular days that got moved to the house when I was working from home…all recycled!  The list goes on and on.  I think Royal was happy I finally cleaned it up.  He’s not one to complain, but he seemed to be pretty happy when we were finished. 

For the most part, I’m pretty picked up and organized.  Even if it’s junk or useless stuff, it’s organized and put away neatly.  I used to tell people, “Oh, being organized isn’t just a hobby, it’s more of a way of life.  We’re kinda involved”.   Although, there is one area of my life I really don’t even try to organize.  That would be my closet.  If anyone knows me very well, or has ever taken a step into my bedroom or closet, they know that I don’t really use my closet.  My closet is more of a place to store all the clothes that I don’t wear, and the clothes that I do wear are in piles usually on top of the dresser (yet another place to store clothes I don’t wear).  These piles make lots of sense to me.  I can find things really quickly.  Royal though, doesn’t quite get it, if he moves a pile or adds something to a pile, he gets a real dirty look from me, because he has probably thrown the whole system off and the next morning when I’m going to get a specific article of clothing, I can’t find it.  However, once I cleaned out the clothes I wasn’t going to keep, my closet was kind of empty, so for the sake of selling the house I have put all my clothes in the dresser and closet.  And so far, they have stayed there.  They haven’t attempted to get out and start a pile, I think they like it in there.

Some other things we have done is buy some new curtains.  We needed them real, real bad.

Then my most favorite project of all!  I have been wanting to finish this for a long time, but I couldn’t convince Royal to let me just go out and buy it and start the project.  Mostly because I knew I would need his help, and Royal doesn’t like doing these kinds of projects.  Painting, hanging curtains, etc… he’s not too excited about.  He would be happy in a white walled, curtainless house.  Me?  Not so much, I do not want to feel like I am living in a fish bowl, and I’d like the insides to have color and happiness all over the walls!  So, finally, I got to go out and buy some chair rail moulding!  I painted the dining room and living room 2 different colors (as you can see from the pictures above) with the intentions all along of putting moulding up to split the colors and finally we are dong it!  I’m so excited, I think it looks great.  I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, but I borrowed a chop saw from Royal’s brother and so far, we’ve got one wall done!  It only took us like 2 1/2 hours to get it right, but we did it!  Wooo hooo!  Here’s a picture of our finished wall!  Now all we need to do is finish the rest and our house will be ready to go!