Cholesterol, ghosts and a Merry Christmas to all

I had a tough week and it seems to be not improving. Monday I got a call from my family doctor - Dr. Dan - he needed to talk to me about the blood work I had done the week before. Well my cholesterol came back bad, very very bad

CHOLESTEROL 275 (<200)->

TRIGLYCERIDE 185 (<150)->

HDL CHOLESTEROL 62 (41-59) mg/dl Good guy

LDL CHOLESTEROL 176 (<130)->

Very bad - only saving grace is that the good cholesterol was very good so he is gonna give me a chance to get it under control myself. Two ugly words - DIET and EXERCISE. Great news just before the week of feasting on foods that are so bad for you that you only eat them a few times a year. No cookies and pie for me. As a matter of fact I can't eat anything good at all.

On Christmas Eve we turned the tree lights on and they shut off by themselves. The ghost of my sister Kerri definitely hovers in my home. Steve investigated the situation and the box had shorted out and started to melt. Just what I want is a house fire when we are waiting for the fat guy to arrive. No I am not talking about the husband I am referring to Saint Nick.

Christmas morning was going very nicely until I noticed purple liquid dripping from the heat vent in the ceiling onto the boys new kitchen set. My brand new 300 oz tide fell off the dryer - which I was not doing laundry, BTW. On the way into the heat vent the detergent first went through my canvas scrapbooking bag that had what I was working on in it. Pictures, papers and my craft tools all covered in tide. Plus the laundry room floor was covered too. I sat on the floor and cried for a bit. Then Steve helped me clean off the pictures the best we could and laid them out to dry.

Last night I dug the bag out of the trash, sat on the floor and cut the bad parts of the papers off. I was able to save about 50 % of the stuff. Not exactly a fun Saturday night but I am getting old and boring.

Dad and the kids were here today. We had a nice visit and I beat up Mary again. I will add pictures later. I have to charge my battery before I can do anything.

December 2008 Ice Storm 5 days without power

Red Neck Thanksgiving

Some misc stuffs

Gramps had a birthday the beginning of the month. Me and the kids made him a cake. It was kind of dry but he was a great sport and ate it anyway. I spent 2 and 1/2 hours cleaning the kids toy room so that I could just get in there to find toys to donate to make room for the next delivery! I changed my hair do - AGAIN The kids found something to do while I was folding laundry. Kitty is getting fatter. Steve and I recovered the kitchen chairs and had fabric left over to cover the blank spot in the countertop

Mommy was under the weather.

So last week Steve and I were invited out for Saturday night. We got Neena and Bampy to watch the boys so it was a "kid free" evening. We headed over to Patrick and Cristina's house for 630. I was busy checking my messages and not paying attention to where Steve was driving and we went too far into Tewksbury, had to turn around and back track. He was surprisingly not cranky about this. We got to Papi and Cristina's house a little late but Melissa and Fernando were a little later than us. Cristina was drinking a Mangotini. I tried it but didn't like it. Papi made me Appletinis. They were delicious. A little too delicious. I had far too much to drink prior to eating. We had delicious chicken fajitas. I can't remember if it was before or after dinner that we did a shot. Of course, I wasn't smart enough to ask what it was before I drank it but it was tequila. I didn't really care for it so I went back to my delicious Appletini's. We ate and ate and ate some more and it was delish. Then the night wore on and I got very intoxicated. Cristina was talking to Melissa about something bloody and my stomach ( that had already been telling me enough) got even more queasy and we headed to my mom's. I will spare the details but I did not pray to the porcelain god, I did however make many trips off the couch thinking that I was going to. On Sunday we got up and headed back home at about 9 am. As we drove through Auburn there were hunters with rifles, walking around. I hate hunting season.... I spent the day on the couch. I thought I was dying. I subsequently figured out that it is not the bigger they are the harder they fall but the older you are the harder it is to recover. Thankfully I have an understanding husband - who had been in these shoes before - to take care of the children. At one point in the afternoon I opened one eye because I heard a child. It was Jonathan. He quickly hid something behind his back, looked at me and started singing to me. It was a lullaby. He obviously didn't want me to know that he was smuggling something upstairs but anyway. It was a cute song - Go to fleep, go to fleep, go to fleep my mommy. Go to fleep, go to fleep and he was off up the stairs. I didn't fully recover from my hangover until Tuesday when I woke up but I will tell you it was well worth the agony. Thanks - Lissa, Nando, Papi and Cristina - I had an awesome night.

Doing Puzzles

Neena and Bampy got the kids puzzles. Jonathan and I worked together on his. BUT Christopher put his together all by his own self. It was his first 63 piece puzzle.

Halloween in Billerica

We went to Billerica this year for trick or treating. Mark was there and the kids just loved him to pieces. I also enjoyed his company. We had a pizza party and the kids went out. I took them to Mrs. Olsen's house. While I was walking with the flashlight Christopher let out a yell. I asked him what was wrong and he said " there is a shadow in front of me". We all - Me, Bampy and Daddy had a little chuckle. I went back to Neena's after the first house and the kids were back with in 20 minutes. They had enough of that fun and just wanted to play Wii.

Jonathan's first Halloween Parade

Jonathan's school had a parade on Friday. All the kids looked adorable. After the parade they did lots of fun activities. They made ghosts from cups and napkins. They did dancing while bowling. Bean bag toss and pin the face on the pumpkin. It was a lot of fun.

I bought something for Daddy

We went trick or treating at the mall yesterday. While we were there I stopped in the halloween store. They had some cool costumes but the best thing they had was a shirt that I bought for Steve. It is perfect. It suits him to a T.

Maddie's Halloween Party

Today was Madelyn's special Halloween celebration. We, I, made a cake - special cake I might add. It was a simple round cake that needed to be made without eggs. Maddie's cousin Michael has a very severe allergy to peanuts and eggs. I must say that it wasn't all that bad. It was a very flat cake but tasty none the less. I made orange icing and used one of those frosting tubes to decorate. Not as good as the store ones but I didn't do so bad. Of course, I forgot most of the things I was supposed to bring with me. Like the table and chairs for the kids to sit at outside. But I remembered the cake so Maddie was happy and the pumpkins for the kids to decorate. I spent the day holding Auntie Snephanie's new baby - Abagail. She was so cuddling. She is 7 weeks old and just loved snuggling with Auntie (me) and the bubbies! It was awesome. Auntie Snephanie took over my job of helping and I just got to love the baby. It was awesome. I got to chat with Auntie Krissy. It was a nice time had by all.

Monster Mash

Christopher had his first school dance last night. Stephen stayed home with the kids that I watch in the evenings so that I could take Christopher and Jonathan to the dance. The dance was Halloween themed - ie Monster Mash. So I dressed the kids in their costumes and we were off to the big school. Dance started at 630 and ended at 830. We got there about 625, I parked the rig and into the school we went. We saw a few of Christopher's friends. Will was the incredible hulk, Katherine P was a princess and Molly was a witch. He said hello and then walked straight away from them. I sat in the one of the folding chairs that circled the gym. 2 older children decided to play some sort of chase game around the chairs right next to me. I, the drill sargent, told them that was not a good idea and to please stop. I am not as bad as some people believe that I am but I am not one to tolerate schenangans. We lasted a whopping 30 minutes and were home before Steve had a chance to find a show for the other kids to watch.

Mommies got a fat azz

Yup, I was sitting on the coffee table - I know tables are for glasses not for asses. Anyway, there was a large pop from under my ass and yup - I broke the glass on the table top.

Neena came to visit

Neena came to visit last week and she brought a truck load of stuff. 3 plants and a trash bag of clothes for me. Another trash bag of clothes for Karyn. Tonka trucks, trailers and front endloaders from when my brothers were young. BTW they are 25 and 18 - can you say pack rat. The most exciting part was that she brought two powerwheels. One is a jeep and the other is a motorcycle. The only problem with them is, well, they are pink. Not even a muted pink. The are O M G pink and purple. They were Renee's and in great shape. Daddy spent most of today peeling decals off of them so that they can get painted. As you can see the boys could care less what color they are. They are just loving that they can zoom around the driveway.

pictures from the topsfield fair