And We Get To LIVE Here :)

I Had Good Intentions...

...of keeping up my blog better. For my own sake, you know? I like the journaling aspect of it, and a little writing outlet never hurt me. But I've been struggling just to make it through each day in one piece. That's what it feels like anyway.

See, my adrenal glands took a nosedive after a seemingly mildly stressful happening. Just a life thing you know? But my fragile body couldn't take it apparently. I've spent a good 80% of the last 5.5 weeks on the couch. Lucky me. No bike riding (or racing!), hardly any driving (too dangerous in my extremely mentally fogged state), and a Very disgusting, dirty house!

I've got new marching orders from my doctor that include glandular extracts and an 8:30 bedtime. Yippee. Buut... If it works it's totally worth it, right? And what Mama couldn't use an early bedtime? Problem is, that's earlier than my boys go to sleep, and we're all still in the same room while Nate struggles to get the boys' bedroom finished in between bouts of homework, classes, and work. Not to mention helping his dad around the property and doing odd jobs for the neighbors. So, yeah.

We're still hoping to have it done by the end of summer term (Ha. I'll be glad when our life isn't measured in school terms ;-)  ). In the meantime we're asking the boys to tolerate a little earlier turning in and turning off of audio books. If I can get in bed at 8:30 and read while they finish listening to their story and have them turn it off at 9:00, we'll be doing good I think.

I'm also not supposed to exercise to fatigue, use the computer or do chores after dinner, need to get our house tested for mold, wean off of caffeine and eat Really healthy and mindfully (my eating schedules get whacked along with sleep when I'm having adrenal problems--i either don't eat enough or eat too much and don't eat at regular times etc.)

I had a couple weeks of pretty intense depression before I figured out exactly what was going on. I knew it was circumstantial though and not the old dark pit of "before". So I was able to muscle through it.

God has been so very faithful through it all, providing peace and putting up with my temper tantrums. My friends and family have been lovely and encouraging, providing shoulders to cry on and sound advice on the other end of the phone. I love you guys!!

A Strange Surprise

Yesterday evening I opened the dryer to pull out some comfy pj's in preparation to cozy up for the evening. Imagine my surprise as I stared at clothes covered in a rainbow of colors. Yellow, teal, orange and red. What?!?!?


Then I spotted it.

An empty crayon wrapper. And another, and another...

Some little boy's pockets had been full of crayons. And his mama apparently forgot to check said pockets before washing clothes yesterday.


So, I don't suppose there is a way to get melted crayon out of clothing? Some of the clothes are obviously hopeless. There are a couple things, like my work-out pants that have only a few splotches on them though...

I am accustomed to finding rocks, screws, nails, acorns, leaves and various other small objects in the dryer. This is a first for crayons though, and hopefully the last time :)

Driveway Work and Bonfire Fun

Fascinating machinery courtesy of a friendly neighbor. My father-in-law is the sort who is on speaking terms with most of his neighbors and trades work with quite a few of them. Imagine the joy of the men folk when an acquaintance with this beauty moved in right next door...

I think Brannon came pretty close to greasing his nose while watching the changing of the buckets lol.

Keeping out of the way...

Tending that bonfire is hard work as illustrated by one red-faced, sooty, dusty little boy.

Yesterday I had to forgo my parking spot to piles of gravel. Today it was all finished, just in time for me to park close with a van full of groceries. I was very relieved to not have to carry all those bags quite so far. :)

Our gorgeous sunset this evening.

The opposite side of the sky...

These bonfires, largely fueled by uprooted stumps (courtesy our friendly neighbor), have been cooking along for about three days now.

Sadly I think my greenhouse/all-purpose shed may have to wait until the house is sided to be finished beyond the frame. Not because it needs the siding, Nate wants to side over the edge of the lean-to. I know I'm not describing that right, but, oh well :) But because the siding is more urgent right now. My dear hubby doesn't want to have to re-plastic the house (can't imagine why lol!) and the stuff (which has lasted an amazing amount of time uncovered) is nearing the end of it's endurance. This just means that it will probably not be done in time for me to start seeds this year, which just means I will have to buy someone else's starts. :-)

I guess I should update on the whole weight loss thing. The point of putting it up here was so I could have some kind of accountability and lots of encouragement:) So, I weighed myself "officially" a few days ago. At mom's house, I don't keep a bathroom scale. With my shoes on, cause I was too lazy to take them off... 189.4. I've walked three times so far this week. Probably only averaging five laps. A far cry from the hour of walking we had worked up to, but it was good to be back at it. This has to be the biggest discouragement of all, working up to the same point in exercising and getting knocked back down over and over. But, our health has been steadily improving over the last year and I expect the good stuff to keep coming!!!

As for eating, I'm doing well with my portions except when I have certain problem foods for a meal. Things I probably shouldn't have in the house anyway--like tater tots, and cheese... I liked today, I didn't have time to snack this afternoon cause I slept like a log (worn out from grocery shopping I guess) then walked with Marci, then the boys and I went out to play in the fires, then it was dishes and dinner... It's when I can't get a nap that I want to eat the most. I guess my body thinks it needs food for energy when it's dragging, and my mind wants the comfort of eating something yummy, etc... So pray for our health and for my nap time binges. And for my cortisol level to finally normalize in the middle of the day. If you didn't know, last summer was the first time I have slept through the night consistently (or at all!) in years. When I was tested my cortisol levels were nighttime normal for the first time in nearly two years of testing. This means that I don't wake up every morning feeling like I haven't slept in a week. This is a very good thing. I still panic a little if I go a couple of nights in a row with trouble sleeping. I love my sleep and am so happy to have it back!!! :-) My morning levels of cortisol were normal first thing and other hormones that were crazy high before were almost normal (again, for the first time in almost two years of dieting, supplements, and getting tested) This is very exciting to see real measurable progress at last! I didn't get tested last fall and I want to get tested again in the next couple months. I haven't been able to do all my supplements and stuff because we've been getting the boys some much needed dental work. I've kept up the midday DGL which is to help raise my cortisol, but that's it. I'm still hoping for some good progress:)

So, that's a little bit of how I'm doing. Thanks for listening and praying. Blessings to all you guys. :)

Swimming lessons

Every afternoon this week has crawled by as if coated in sticky slime, leaving a trail like the misguided slugs munching the struggling cabbage in my garden. The culprit is the cold virus oozing its way through my system, reducing me to a disgruntled couch potato.

The bright spot in our day is my youngest son's swimming lesson at 5:30. It seems like we stare at the clock from the time we get up from nap at 3:00 until we get dressed in our swim stuff at 5:00. As soon as we exit our vehicle at the site of the lesson my four-year-old is transformed from sleepy-eyed to animated. He skips gleefully through the parking area to the pool. He is, as usual "hyper" throughout the lesson and struggles to wait patiently for his turn to participate.

The blissful look on his face as he floats in the water is heaven itself for this besotted mama:)

Here is a hat I made this week. I saw a picture of one and thought it was too cute, so I whipped one up for my little hat lover. My oldest has no interest in hats but he's hoping I'll make him some crocheted food pretty soon. We'll see how it goes, I'll post pics if I finish anything.