Finally!... A "Sunshiney" Day!!!

Whoo! This is finally the first day without snow flurries, snow accumulation, blowing snow, etc. However, it is frigid outside to say the least!!! It was -17 degrees this morning when I came to work, and that was the actual temperature, not the wind chill! BRRRR!!!! After the snow we got yesterday, I think we ended up with a total of 12 inches over the last three days. It is going to take forever to get rid of this stuff now. Today, the sun is shining and it is really cold, but the weather forecast says it should warm up into the 20's and 30's by the weekend. That will seem warm compared to today!! CJ had trouble getting his truck started this morning because it was so cold... I didn't even attempt to try to start the car I usually drive to work. I went ahead and drove the Trailblazer... even this tried to "hesitate" slightly before actually starting up! We can see if the car starts when we get home from work tonight.

Will It Ever Quit Snowing???

Geez... another snowy Monday... guess we can't seem to get enough of these. Yuck! I just listened to the news reports at lunch time and we seem to have gotten 7 inches since it started snowing yesterday afternoon. The worst of it was over sometime early this morning, but it is still snowing little flurries out there. Seven inches!... just when we were getting the other snow melted and starting to see the brown grass again! I guess Zach has some scooping to do when he gets home from school!! I sure will be glad when spring is here!!!

Eczema: The Story of Zach's "Itchy" Life...

Zach has had a battle going on with a skin condition called Eczema since he was 18 months old. Eczema is a very severe dry skin condition that breaks out in a rash on certain parts of the body such as the arms, legs, shoulders, or back. It can be triggered by allergies (nature and food), asthma, or changes in the weather. Even a family history of allergies or asthma can be reason enough for someone to get eczema. Apparently this is the case with Zach.When he was younger, the doctor had hoped he would grow out of it, as most people do. In the last 3-4 years, his skin has been doing a lot better. He used to get a lot of flare-ups on his face, arms, and legs. These flare-ups were usually small -- no bigger than about the size of a 50 cent piece usually. Now that he is older, I was hoping that he was growing out of it, since he didn't seem to have too many of these flare-ups anymore. Of course, I also don't see as much of his body now that he is older, too! We noticed that he was scratching his leg and back last weekend, and when we looked he was broke out with a few small rashes in several places. We put lotion on him and told him to be sure to use the lotion a lot until it goes away. The doctor used to have him on Elidel, which is a steroid cream, however he had to discontinue using that about 3 years ago or so because the FDA determined that it was made with a cancer-causing agent and took it off the market. There was nothing else to use that would work, so we had to resort to expensive lotions that were labeled as "extremely moisturizing". Luckily, we hadn't had any real problems until now. After several days had gone by since he first showed us his back, he came up to me one night after he had his basketball game and said that his back was really hurting bad. When he showed it to me, I almost fell over! The eczema had flared up so bad, that he actually had red welts and bumps covering almost his entire back!!! He said he had been itching it , which he is not supposed to do because that can cause the sores to break open and become infected. We gave him a cool bath and really moisturized him up good that night and I put a call in to the doctor in the morning. When we had his appointment that afternoon, she took one look and said that his skin was infected from itching and she prescribed an antibiotic cream for that. Then she gave us the REALLY GOOD NEWS!... She could put him back on the Elidel that worked so well for him a few years ago. When I asked about the cancer-causing agent, she said that the FDA seemed to have made a mistake about that, and they have returned the medicine back to the market as safe to use. She gave him a prescription with about 6 refills, and he is to use it every day to heal this up and then keep in under control in the future. His back is already starting to heal nicely. The dry skin bumps aren't gone yet, but at least it doesn't look like he is trying to sprout a set of wings out of his back!

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone!!! Wow, I can hardly believe that 2008 is here! Hope everyone finds this year prosperous, healthy and happy! As for resolutions... well... I will just resolve to "try to keep up" with everything and everyone!!

We had a nice New Years... Sioux City used to have a big family event called FunFest on New Years Eve down at the Convention Center, but they didn't have enough sponsors to put it on this year. It was an all day long event for $10 per person. You could go to movies, go ice skating, roller skating, swimming, bowling, go on a treasure hunt, see a magic show, go to a carnival, etc. All these events were housed in different locations throughout the city at different times all day long. You would just pick the things you wanted to do and be on your way! It was a really awesome event so we were really disappointed that we wouldn't get to do it this year.

We thought we would try to get tickets to the hockey game, but they were sold out way before New Years. So, we took the kids bowling instead! It was a lot of fun! Of course, it was busy, too, since it was New Years Eve, but the kids had a blast! We came home about 10:30 pm and watched Dick Clark's Rockin' New Years Eve on TV while having grape juice in wine glasses to celebrate the New Year at midnight. Brianna took a couple sips of hers and decided she didn't like it, so we gave her a little pop in her glass!! About 12:10 am, both kids were asleep on the couch!!

Since we only got to go bowling last night, we decided to go see a movie today. We went down to the big Riviera Theatre downtown where a movie is only $3 per person. Today, they were only $2 per person!! At that price, we can afford to buy pop, popcorn, and candy for the movie!! We chose to see The Game Plan with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Madison Pettis. It was a really great family movie!! We all loved it and will definitely be buying it when it comes to DVD!!

The original plan for supper tonight was going to be potato soup and pie. With all the freezing cold weather we have had the last couple days, soup sounded really good. However, by the time we got out of the movie, it was already 7:00 pm, so we just stopped at Wendy's on the way home. Speaking of freezing... their heater was out in their front dining room and they had a sign asking you to sit in the enclosed dining room on the side.... while we were standing there ordering our food, our hands and noses were freezing! Zach saw the thermostat on the wall and went over to read it... 40 degrees!!!! Once we walked into the side dining area, it felt like walking into a sauna at first, but it was so good!!! Especially after freezing out front...

Well, I will sign off for now! Talk to everyone again soon!

Christmas!!!!... It's Over Already?????

Well, as you can see from the lack of posts this past month, it has been a busy one!!! It sure is a lot of work for a holiday that takes a good month or two to prepare for, only to have it over in a matter of about 10 minutes! But I am glad it is done! Maybe now we can get on with the "regular" chaos of our lives!!!
We celebrated Christmas over at Jenny's house on Sunday evening with her family. Mom came up to Sioux City for the weekend and since Derek was unable to get off work and come home for Christmas, we just did our gift exchange on Sunday night. It took a good while to open gifts since we took turns opening. There were six children and 5 adults. We had a nice time! Brianna got the Bratz movie doll she wanted and Zach got a PS2 game that he had been wanting (a basketball one, of course!). I got a shirt and some perfume from my mom and a cookbook, socks, and some B&B lotion from Matt. CJ got some Adidas track pants and slippers from Jenny and a shirt and some gift certificates from Mom.
We stayed home for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day... it was really nice not to have to load up gifts and travel anywhere. I had to work all day on Christmas Eve, so I fixed a nice dinner of roast beef, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn when I got home. I thought of making a pie, but we had all those cookies, bread, and chocolate... that was good enough for dessert. After supper and dishes, we opened our presents from each other. Brianna got a Barbie Girl MP3 player and clothes, Zach got another PS2 game and a Colombia coat, CJ got a billfold, an LSU chain, an LSU frosted pilsner glass, some more track pants and a Terrell Owens Dallas football jersey. I got some B&B body wash, a wallet, a purse, a really soft, thick blanket, and the camcorder I have been wanting! We watched a movie after presents and went to bed to wait for Santa Claus.
On Christmas morning, Brianna got up about 8:00 am and we woke everyone up to do the Santa presents! I put an egg casserole in the oven for breakfast so it could cook while the kids opened presents. Brianna got her Nintendo DS that she has been wanting for a year and a half now!! She was really happy!! She also got some DS games, clothes, Barbie stuff, the High School Musical 2 DVD and the Hanna Montana CD. Zach got his Guitar Hero 3, accessories for his cell phone, and IPod Docking station, and a gift certificate to the mall. They both were quite happy!! Since it was just the four of us, I didn't really feel like making a big meal and spending the day in the kitchen cooking and cleaning. We had gotten some pizza, cheesy bread, and cinnamon sticks from Papa Murphy's the day before, and this is what we fixed for dinner/supper! It was really nice... the kids played with all their new presents and CJ and I got to sit around and relax all day.
Mom is having a Christmas get-together at her house this weekend for her side of the family. Weather permitting, we will be going home for that! It will be nice to see our relatives and visit. At least we won't have to drag any presents anywhere! MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE AND I HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!!!

Christmas is Coming!!

Brianna and I put up the Christmas tree the other night! I wasn't sure I wanted to do it, since I was tired from working, but she convinced me! We thought we would post a picture since Brianna decorated it so beautifully! She is pretty proud of it!!!

Turkey Dinner Is Done... Let's Go Shopping??!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving... spent it at my mother's house with my sister and her family and one of my uncles! As always, we gorged ourselves with too much food and drink, which made for a very long and tiring trip home that evening!!! And of course it was late when we got home... CJ's Dallas Cowboys were playing, so we couldn't leave until that game was over! We got home about 9:30 pm. By the time we put everything away and got every one to bed, it was almost 11:00. Not good when we were going to get up a few hours later to go shopping...

Normally, I try to avoid "Black Friday" shopping!! There doesn't seem to be much sense in freezing your buns off at 4:00 am while waiting in a LONG line for the stores to open. Then you have to push your way through people to get to what you came there for... However, upon looking at the ads on Thanksgiving Day, we saw several items that were really good deals so we thought we would try this "shopping frenzy". Wal-Mart was one place I needed to go and their doorbusters started at 5am. Since we have three Super Wal-Marts that are open 24 hours here, I decided to go to the one clear on the opposite end of town, away from the mall and shopping centers! It was great! I got there about 4:40 am and parked right up at the front of the store!! I was able to go inside since they are open 24 hours... they have their "doorbuster" items on pallets in the aisles and wrapped in black plastic so you can't see what it is. There is a Wal-Mart employee standing at each pallet to make sure no one tries to rip these open before 5:00 am. Because everyone was out at the Wal-Mart by the mall, closer to the shopping areas, there was not very many people here at the one I was at! I was able to get everything I came for (which I can not list here since they are Christmas gifts... someone might read this!), I didn't even have to wait in line to check out, and I was out of the store by 5:05am!!! It was GREAT!!! I can't say the same about Target, though! They are located over with the shopping centers and the mall!! BUSY, BUSY, BUSY!!!! After I finished at Wal-Mart, I took my purchases home. CJ was going to go to Target, but since I got done quickly and made it back home before he left, we went together. Our first mistake was the time... we didn't get there soon enough! We arrived about 10 minutes before the store opened.... BAD!!!! This is a Super Target with two separate entrances on the front. There were lines formed from both doors and going back around the corners to the back of the building... on both sides!!! We saw Shannon Ewart, whose son played baseball with Zach this summer. She was about a third of the way back in line, and she said she had gotten there at 5:00am and had been waiting in line for an hour outside already!! Well, CJ and I didn't think we were going to get what we wanted at this store, but we were there, right?! Might as well get in line and see what happens!!! Well, we didn' t have to wait outside in the cold very long... once 6:00am came and the doors opened, the lines moved very quickly. But we aure didn't get what we wanted! By the time we got to the shelf where it was, they were sold out of them!!! So we pushed through the maze of people in there and headed out! It actually took us longer to get out of the parking lot than anything!! CJ went home and went back to bed, while I took off to work. I was still pleased with my Wal-Mart purchases, though! Note for next year: Plan ahead and leave the house earlier!!! :)