It's been pretty crazy these past few days.  The kids have had Little Gym day camp everyday this week and it varies on time depending on the day.  So while they're doing that I've been coming home and cranking out deals for Kids Eat For and now I'm doing IHOP and I just really can't deal with that right now.  Funny story about yesterday.  "The Hubby" had a doctors appointment and I also needed to get some records for a doctor and thought since they are only an exit apart that I would go with him and kill two birds with one stone.  Well not only did I do that but I was even able to dismantle the Murano at that same time.

And people say I can't multitask.  Yeah so I had to run an errand in Scottsdale and I noticed that the drivers side door handle where the key goes in was coming out.  Remember that the truck isn't driven anymore and hasn't been driven since I think Tuesday.  So I push that part back into the truck and took off because I had to put gas in it.  The kids and I are running the errands and get back home to pick up "The Hubby" and drop him off and stuff, I get back into the truck after getting the kids buckled and as I pull on the door handle that it came off in my hand.

It's a 2005 and I don't understand how a door handle can just come off unless someone tampered with it.  So here I am, at my doctors and I have this handle in my hand and the kids screwing around in the truck.  I use the passenger side door, not thinking and remembering that you can just open the window from the keyless remote and I'm all flustered.  I called "The Hubby" at his appointment and of course he wasn't happy with me but I was freaking out and starving and so were the kids.  It just really wasn't a good day at all.  So now the truck is at the shop figuring out if it was messed with.  He has now told me that if we get a new car (a few years after we move to Chicago) that he's only going to buy one that gives you a loaner.  This is the second time in a month this car has been in the shop.

Today is exactly a week until my surgery.  The kids are excited that I'll be back to normal and really be able to carry them and stuff.  I have been as open as I can with them about what's going on, I mean they're 3 and 5, they don't understand FAP or Ileostomy stuff.  They just know that I'm going to the hospital next week to have my bag taken away and then I can pick them up.  Now I'm trying to explain that it will still be months before I can pick them up but I'm doing one thing at a time.

We are slowly getting the house reorganized.  I haven't been much help lately and now everything is suffering but we are slowly getting it fixed.  Right now I'm trying to get the laundry caught up again but that's a never ending process.  So now I need to wash all floors and bathrooms and also work on the guest room.  I feel bad that I just can't get rid of things yet.  I have so much stuff from the kids that it takes up a full row of boxes in the garage.  I think I have it down to 10 boxes of maternity, boys and girls, clothes, baby bedding and toys.  Plus I still have to put the toys from the guest room in the garage too.  I need "The Hubby's" help with redoing the boxes since I messed it up pretty good.

Well I guess I took a long enough break from IHOP, now it's time to get back to the grind.

It's in the afternoon now and I finally decided that I should probably get back to work.  I woke up at 5:30am and so I did my yoga and of course by 6:15am both kids were awake.  I only did 20 minutes but I guess it's better than what I've been doing which is absolutely nothing.  I noticed that since I quit doing yoga and stuff that I get a lot more cramps in my feet and ankles.  I haven't gotten any so far today but the days still early.  Because I woke up early I did take a couple ten minute naps but now I'm fully awake.

Both of the kids are at The Little Gym for the Cheer Week.  There are a lot more boys there than I thought there would be.  "O" is the youngest and smallest in the full class and she's not happy about it.  Plus it is her nap time now too.  She is doing so much better there than she was a couple days ago.  I mean there are these bars that they have to walk using hands and feet and she's so elegant about it now.

This past weekend was rough with the kids but luckily we had date night to save it.  Actually we ended up having two date nights because we were supposed to go to a party Friday but felt weird about going to it, so we went out to dinner instead.  Saturday we spent a good portion of the day at Costco, even bought a membership.  There are quite a few things that I buy that is a lot cheaper there than at Walmart like Baking Soda.  I buy two 4 pound containers a week for $2.13 each and I bought a 12 pound container for $5.00, way better deal.  But anyway, a friend of ours called and asked if we were still on for Saturday night and I knew nothing of the sort but called my sitter again and she was able to do it.  We ended up going to dinner again and seeing Step Brothers.  It was a nice weekend and I was funny and had a few pieces of popcorn, I didn't eat it I just sucked on it and spit the kernels and stuff into a paper towel.  Don't ever do that with and ileostomy.

Sunday we just went to church, walked around the mall for a few minutes then went to Rock Bottom for lunch and then came home and chilled. 

These last couple of days I have learned to not eat as much food.  For the past couple mornings I've been making the kids breakfast with Egg Beaters (lower in cholesterol than regular eggs) and Boca Sausage Links and I can really eat one or two with a little bit of egg.  We are cutting red meat pretty much out.  We have bought a lot of Gardenburger, Boca and Morningstar Farms.  We really like the Okra Patties by Morningstar and the Tomato and Basil burgers from Boca.  The only thing I still really have a craving for is chicken and salmon.  I just want to make some teriyaki chicken with rice and call that a meal.  So I do eat two to three times a day and just get full pretty easy.  I'm just happy that I went through the freezer this past weekend and got rid of the ice cream and all the junk food.  Now if I want to snack then I have to grab some fruit or some thing. 

Today I sent the kids to The Little Gym for a "Summer Camp" day.  Yesterday I took "O" there for her free class and she loved it and since "N" doesn't start school until next week and I need to get ahead on work I thought I would send them there and get work done.  Their camp hours today are from 1-4pm and I really didn't want to leave because I enjoyed watching them enjoy themselves there.  There were only 8 kids and two "teachers" and it was good to see them let out their energy and not have to be outside.  I have been keeping them cooped up and I really feel bad but now that I paid for them to join The Little Gym, I think it will do great things for us.  Next week "O" is going to the "Cheer Camp" and I've been told by the owner that when there are boys they hold a soccer game for them and have the girls cheer so now I'm debating on putting both of the kids in for it. 

Earlier in the week "The Hubby" and I went to Harkins Theaters and saw The Dark Knight and since the kids are old enough we let them go into the "Play Center".  I love my kids age, I don't know how I could have anymore, considering I can't it's all good.  I mean my kids are now at the age where we don't rely on diapers and as long as "O" is either the right age or height, we can do so many things.  The theater play area says that kids have to be potty trained, guess what, they are.  Unfortunately she's not quite tall enough to go into the IKEA play center yet but soon.  At least she's potty trained.  Even though I'm stressed beyond belief I really am starting to see how good I have it.  Until I see that "O" has taken a pencil to most of my walls and I can't get that off very easily.  Who'd have thought that I wished she would have used crayons instead of pencil?  You can tell I'm a mom.

Tonight we are having date night and we're supposed to go to a party but not sure since we'll be the only ones there.  Might just take the laptops and just go work for a little while in a coffee shop, you never know.  "The Hubby" is breaking out of his shell lately and is now designing and writing a game that will play on the Zune, computer and the Xbox 360.  He's has become so creative these last few years I'd like to say it's because of me but it's not and it's all good.

My last surgery is getting very close and I'm both excited and nervous.  I'm excited because I won't have to live by the "bag" anymore and I'm nervous because I've gotten used to it.  It'll be nice because after the surgery I'll be able to wear a bathing suit next year, I can start working out in February, I can pick up my kids and I won't have the expense of the Ileostomy anymore.  I will on the other hand pray that the charcoal tablets work to lessen the odor of some things.  I do notice that when you don't have a colon and your stool does smell worse and because of that I try to empty my bag at home so I don't have to embarrass myself in public.

So other than that, things are going awesome, "The Hubby" helped me put the loft back together and the house is almost clean.  Not bad considering I woke up at 6am and didn't want to get out of bed.  I was awake but was just to cold to want to get out of bed.  Alright so you guys have a great weekend.

So over the weekend "The Hubby" was screwing around with "O" after her bath, giving her hugs and it was so funny because every time he hugged her she farted.  This went on for about 15 minutes and every time she did it we would just start laughing hard.  She has this thing about her and just makes you want to cuddle or just laugh out loud.  Another funny thing she did the other day was while we were out at some restaurant and as she farted she shifted her weight to look like she was lifting her leg.  It was really funny too, I guess you had to be there.

Then this past weekend we were out at a restaurant (before I posted my article) and the "N" just lets out this most disgusting burp and I thought it was "The Hubby".  Yes I have a barn full of pigs but they are pretty funny pigs.  Yes they did say excuse me afterward but still just to see them out of character like that was pretty cool.

Not a lot going on......really.  I'm just kind of out there lately and not really focusing on a whole lot.  Take today for instance.  I woke up at 6am, asked "The Hubby" if he was going for his run, he said, "No" and I went back to sleep till 7:30.  I really just didn't want to get out of bed today.  Once I did it was just a normal day of trying to get "N" to do the routine.  Maybe once school starts he'll get better at it.  Last night "The Hubby" told me that I have a Cisco phone showing up and that the loft has to be moved around so the phone will work.  We started to change it and I tried to finish it today but with no luck.

Do you ever notice how there are never enough outlets on a wall?  That's the problem I have and also the fact that the loft has no cable connection so I can't just plug the Cisco phone into that.  So the loft is tore apart and I just have to figure out how to rearrange it now.  Luckily the cords aren't a huge mess.  I really hate how messy computers and their cords are.

I always have these grand ideas about the fun things to do with the kids and then in the morning reality sets in and I realize that the house needs to be cleaned, laundry has piled high, content needs to be written, etc, and then I get back into the daily habit of trying to do these things so that way "The Hubby" can focus on work and not the day to day stuff.  I asked "N" to please put his Magnetix away and it's one of the three things I ask him to do and it takes him over three hours to pick up less than 75 pieces of Magnetix.  I told him that he had 10 minutes (after I had been telling him for the past 2 hours) or he forfeits lunch.  So go figure, after "O" has eaten and is napping, he decides to do it and then I'm already in my groove working and he has the nerve to get mad at me.  I told him, "You make me wait, you're going to have to wait till I'm at a breaking point now."   Then he starts throwing a fit and I just ignore him and every now and then tell him, next time do what I ask when I tell you and we won't have this problem.

So needless to say I didn't get hardly anything done like I anticipated but adding a few deals to the Kids Eat For site and that's about it.  Oh yeah, I forgot, I also have the loft tore apart and put together enough to get my work done.  Tis life and it will only get more complicated the older you and your kids get.  Maybe next week I'll take them to see the last summer movie at Harkins. 

I was going to take the kids to Pump it Up but I can't spend $7.00 a kid so they can play for an hour and a half.  Luckily the Play Factory opens back up at the beginning of August and then the kids can play all day for the same price.  So I thought maybe I would sign them up for The Little Gym because "O" is now into cheerleading and gymnastics but to put both kids in for that it would be $600 for 21 weeks which I guess isn't bad with the payment plan which would make it about $29.00 a week for 21 weeks.  I guess I should talk to "The Hubby" and then decide if we should do it or not.  I may do just her because in a few weeks "N" well be in school and "O" really has nothing so maybe that will be her treat.

We almost pierced her ears this past weekend too.  I figured that we'd do it when she turned 5, that's how old I was, and that way she can decide for herself if she really even wants them.  She said that she does now but I don't know if she really understands what piercing entails.  I talked to many places about getting her ears done at this age and supposedly they do a lot of kids her age but I really don't know if I'm really that comfortable doing it yet.  I remember it took me two times to actually get the courage to pierce my ears.  I remember that I went to a Claire's Boutique at Woodland Mall (either that or North Kent Mall) and the first time I got there I sat in the chair and all of a sudden I totally freaked out and was balling my eyes out and had to leave I was so scared.  As I was walking out of the store I remember this old lady was laughing at me and that made me cry even more.  A few weeks later I ended up with enough courage to get it done.

I think we'll just wait a few more years and that way she's able to decide for herself and be able to understand what she's getting into with them. 

So with our up coming move and my surgery there are many things going on.  Now that we have gotten through the stupid Murano, it's time to get busy about getting rid of everything that we can't fit into a POD. The quote we got said that we'll need 2 PODS to move and so because of that we are trying to get rid of enough stuff to make it into one POD.  So that means that most of the furniture will not be going, the few furniture things I want to go is the new chairs we bought for the master entertainment center and our marble dining room table.  I guess when "The Hubby" goes to look at housing it will tell us what we're going to be able to save.

Since we're getting rid stuff we thought that we'd also get down to one car.  "The Hubby" works from home and the only time I really go anywhere is to take "N" to school, grocery shopping or to doctor appointments so why spend the money on two cars?  Plus we normally go out in the evening as a family and now we take my car (Magnum).  The Murano is worth more than my car anyway and that's why we're selling it first. 

Lately it's been difficult.  We spend a lot of time together as a family which I love but there are times when you just go stir crazy with each other.  It's pretty hot out so it's not really fun to go outside and that wears on people.  I'm really hoping that the move to Chicago will be a positive thing.  We'll be closer to family and friends, yeah the winters suck but at least we'll be near family.  My doctor at Mayo Clinic said that it's ok for me to go to Northwestern University for my checkups (upper GI exams).  I will travel to Rochester, MN when I need to for whatever they need me for.

I took a break from writing the blog so I could get started on the baby stuff and OMG it is a bigger task than I anticipated.  I have gone through something like 12 boxes/tupperware containers dividing up winter vs. summer, mine vs. "The Hubby's", Goodwill vs. Other Mothers.  After looking at most of the clothes, I had no idea how new the clothes still looked.  I think that there are more boxes but I just couldn't get to them.  So my half of the garage is full of boxes with my car parked outside.  I guess it's a small price to pay to have fewer boxes to move right?  I have a good size Dell box going of Goodwill stuff and luckily I found my skinny clothes from nine years ago.  I'm going to wash them and see if they still fit.  It sucks being this small again because I already have gotten rid of my skinny clothes and now I need to get rid of my "fat" clothes.  What's sad is that my fat clothes are sizes 6, 8, and 10.  I'm now between a 2 and a 4.

I will be taking another shower here shortly just because it was soo hot in the garage.  I'm proud of myself for starting, but I think "The Hubby's" mad because I haven't gotten anything else done and I'm sure the kids were bugging him.  I think that we may be able to keep some of the key furniture pieces though.  I mean we aren't going to move the bags of dirt we have, the pools, crib or luggage bags.  And with getting rid of all the kids stuff, we should be good.

Today is really a depressing day.  I couldn't sleep well last night, I woke up late (again), I can't focus and I always have these plans of doing all of these cool things with the kids and I end up not doing them.  I'm trying to help "The Hubby" with all the websites we own and there just isn't enough time in the day for everything.  The house and yard is neglected, the kids are stuck playing with each other most days, it's just crappy.  I just hope it pays off soon because I know I'm not the greatest mom but it would kill me to find out this was all for nothing.

So we had this great idea to just to do a "Vegas" weekend with the kids, no gambling but just walking around the strip, Circus Circus for the kids and a lot of eating.  If the kids aren't tired at 9pm then go walk around some more.  Well we left our house and we were making awesome time to be in Vegas by 7:05pm and we'd get to see the Hoover Dam, "The Hubby's" seen it but the rest of us haven't, and just have fun on the six hour drive.  So we're driving up on US-93 and like I said making awesome time and as we were passing a truck we thought we ran over something but didn't see anything and as we're climbing a mountain that the volt and brake light turn on.  We didn't expect that to happen on our 2005 Nissan Murano because we have never anything other than a dead battery in it before this point.  Anyway, so instead of just stopping we're trying to call the dealer since we weren't sure what it was and they said it could be the alternator and that we may or may not have a lot of time left depending on the battery.

So once we heard that we just kept driving because we were out in BFE and it just wasn't a good thing.  We finally came across this Shell station in this little dink town called Wikieup, AZ, I was a complete mess.  Here we are 112 miles from home and 158 miles from Vegas and the next biggest city is called Kingman, AZ and it's 55.3 miles away.  First thing we did was call the dealership back since the car came with 100,000 mile Nissan Roadside Assistance and while that was going on I was also calling American Express to get help with a car or something.  American Express Platinum Concierge is so NOT worth the money.  They couldn't help us and Nissan Roadside Assistance is a complete joke as well.  I think we got the car to Wikieup between 4 and 5pm and made calls and Nissan Roadside took forever, I think it took four phone calls and a total of an hour and a half for them to get someone on the road to get us.  I spent 45 minutes on my cell phone with Amex with nothing solved.

So anyway we're stuck in the gas station parking lot and luckily it's not ungodly hot so we rolled the windows down and waited and waited and waited.  While waiting I was freaking out with chest pains because of stress, the kids were bored, can't blame them for that, and we can't walk anywhere because there's absolutely nothing to walk to.  So to pass the time we rotated who sat where and who was allowed out of the car.  They really did well and I was very proud of them.  The tow truck finally got there around 7pm and luckily it was an extended cab F-650 I think, so I was able to get the kids' carseats in safely.  Once in the tow truck, things went down hill fairly quickly.  We had another two hours or so in the tow truck to get the Murano back to Peoria Nissan.  So we got through it and "The Hubby's" friend was able to give us a ride home.  I was happy to see the dealership still opened because I love watching people stare as your Nissan is being taken off a tow truck, nothing gives you more confidence when buying a car then seeing one brought in by flatbed.

So after a temper tantrum from "N" the whole way home because I couldn't fit in the car at all we were home by 10pm and I put the kids in bed at waited for "The Hubby" and friend to bring home dinner.  His friend didn't leave until after midnight and I was falling asleep because of everything going on that day but didn't want to be rude since he did give us a ride home.  So after a short nights sleep we all packed into the Magnum and headed down to the dealer to figure out what's wrong with it.  My dad was right and it was just the alternator belt and not the alternator.

So basically where I'm going with this is if you leave town, I don't care how new your car is, rent one because when you have "Roadside Assistance" you are now going to be screwed because you are stuck paying for all the towing cost except for $100.  Did I tell you how much the tow was and how much the belt was?  The tow was $800 minus the $100 Nissan paid, the belt was $179.  So because of this whole situation and plus how we were treated at the dealership, we will never buy a Nissan again nor recommend one to anyone.  I'm sure there are some people who love them to death, I'm very happy that you have an awesome experience but you are stuck in the middle of nowhere then you better start praying because I can guarantee you that you will be screwed in towing.  That's the part that really gets us is the tow was way more than the cost to fix the stupid thing.  I know that what I say doesn't matter to Nissan but now we will never buy one again and it's because of the way we were treated all the way around.  Really think twice about buying one.  BTW it's not just Nissan who has a deal with Roadside Assistance the company, the Assistance company holds the deal with all manufacturers so beware.  I hope that you never break down too far from your "Authorized Dealer" because then my friend, you're in big, big trouble.

I have been trying to do some soul searching and I have been trying to be a better mom for quite sometime.  I have tried many things to help me do that.  I'm still not where I should be but I think I'm doing a little bit better.  Like all in life, you can't just do it over night, it takes time.  I love my kids and really they are pretty well behaved kids compared to other kids.  They used to be really good eaters up until I sent them to daycare.  Watch that too because you could have the greatest eaters until then because when they go they will see kids who don't eat what they are supposed to (veggies and fruits, because parents are scared of their kids) and start imitating them.  We are getting them back into eating better and with them not going to school or daycare, that helps too.  Plus we don't eat out much and if we do, they don't get to eat macaroni and cheese.

"O" does a really good job keeping her room clean, well that's until "N" goes in and then they get a little crazy.  What's really sad is "N" will make a mess in his room, nothing to horribly bad but just his Magnetix or something and the rule is you clean your room before you go to bed.  Well now he keeps his room clean but before it would take him all day and then it got to the point where I would just get so mad that I couldn't talk to him.  I feel like a maid to them a lot of the time and it really wears me down, the only thing I ask is that they clean their rooms and take their clean clothes to their rooms and put them away.  It's taking some adjusting but we are slowly getting there.

I am trying to learn to have more patience.  I still don't have a lot but I am letting them do more things than I used to.  If they want to scream super loud and play rough, fine but when the screaming goes on for over a half hour then we need to take a break and to something else or I will have a super bad headache.  The other day I spent a long time reorganizing their rooms and vacuuming them and the whole time I let them scream and jump around on the bed and they had a great old time.  After letting them do that for a while we did some other things together and that night we went for a walk and it was fun.

We don't seem to have as many temper tantrums I don't think.  We go out now after dinner and that way we pretty much stay out of the heat and we eat at home because it's better for everyone, healthier and cheaper. 

I have been trying to get healthy as well and also trying to wake up earlier too.  I figured that if I can exercise and shower before the kids are fully awake, then we shouldn't have to many problems either.  I know that I need to have them on a routine all day and I do find that difficult sometimes.  The mornings are a give in, wake up, get dressed, make beds, bring dirty clothes down and eat breakfast.  Before bed we take showers, "O" gets her hair braided, we do Devotion and we tuck them in bed for the night.  So now it's just getting a routine down during the day and also be able to work.  I feel bad for "The Hubby" because he doesn't have to work from an office so we really don't get a break from each other.  Sometimes it's nice when we works from home but it can cause problems.

I think that we have also decided that we are going to keep "N" at the montessori school until we move.  We agreed that this school, yet far away is the best school for him right now.  It's expensive with the monthly cost, the cost of gas, daily lunch he needs to bring plus we have to bring snacks.  Oh well, I guess if you want your kids to have a great private education, you have to suck it up and deal with it.

I know that this has no rhyme or reason today but today didn't have one either so I just found it fitting.

It's midweek and I'm bored out of my mind and wanting to get the h-e-double hockey sticks out of Arizona.  How much do I hate Phoenix do you ask?  So much that we are debating on moving shortly after my surgical checkup which should be a few days after my surgery.  Can you believe that it's coming up in less that a month????  I can't wait man because this whole stoma thing is really ticking me off.  But I can't complain because that's what got me down to my goal weight and size.  I can now wear a size 2 from Dockers and a 4 from Dockers and Levi's.  I'm pretty jazzed and so as I always say, I'm maintaining by doing yoga at least once, if not twice a day and I try not to eat so unhealthy.  We are cooking more homemade stuff including breads and liking it a lot.  My goal is to make my own macaroni and cheese because I hate using boxed stuff and I'm sure that we can make it healthier than Kraft or Velveeta.  We've been eating lots of leftovers and one in particular I knew that no one would eat and that is the Dill Salmon.  It was good when "The Hubby" made it but I don't like reheating certain foods.  But other than that I have been loving the dinners mainly he, but we both cook.  Tonight I think I'm making the Chicken Tetrazzini which makes awesome leftovers.

So my predictions came true on the HPV vaccine.  Man I hate it when I'm right, don't rush into things because nine times out of ten it's probably not a good idea.  That goes for buying the latest and great in phones and whatever as well.  Just wait because you never know that time has planned for you.  Don't do it.

We are planning our last trip up to Flag for a while.  Since my surgery is happening soon I want to get out of the heat one last time.  It should be fun because it'll break up the monotony and just give us a break.  It'll be hard for me because we won't have a kitchen or anything and will have to go out and eat.  I don't like eating out as much anymore because it's unhealthy, expensive and it's cooked in grease.  Not my favorite thing to do anymore.  I still do like Pei Wei a lot though and sometimes Chipotle but only the burrito with just rice.  It'll be nice to get away, I would like to do Payson, AZ since we are the same distance from both but Flag is just a straight shot up.

And another thing, I love Magic Erasers!  Some how there was this outline of a shamrock on my cabinets and I was freaking out and quite frankly tired of looking at it that I decided that I should do something about it and the eraser totally took it off.  I've been doing the walls with it here and there trying to get some of the marks off before we move.  Obviously whatever the eraser can't take off, we'll paint over.  We just can't wait to leave, even "N" made a comment about it as we were leaving the movie theater.  Yes we saw Wall*E on opening day but today was Alvin and The Chipmunks at the Summer Movie thing at Harkins.  I just took "N" today since he wasn't throwing a temper tantrum and was quite quiet, I was even a nice mom and bought him a Kids Combo popcorn thing.  Normally I don't do that but I figured that we probably should start doing little things like that so he will see the nicer he acts, the nicer we are to him.

He is doing so awesome at reading.  He has his kid version of the bible and last night while I was doing laundry I heard him reading it.  There are a few big words but he's finally just taking it upon himself to read.  I'm just so happy with him.  "O" has her moments and now we are in the habit of after she takes a bath to french braid her hair.  It helps keep the snarls down and she gets less food in it.  Plus after having her hair in a braid all night, her hair looks gorgeous in the morning.

Well, while typing this I ended up taking a ten minute nap so that's my cue to hurry up and get what I need to done so I can do yoga to help stay awake.  I guess I should go to bed before midnight huh?  Six hours of sleep isn't enough anymore.

We ended up going to Flag for the holiday and it was fun yet trying with the kids.  We got up there around 7pm on the 3rd and OMG it was a very trying dinner.  We went to Chili's, the most nasty, noisy and disgusting place on earth and "N" had a huge meltdown right there.  It was a long day for him and yes it was a two hour drive but so what, it's not like we weren't doing fun songs on the way up or looking at the different wildfires going on.

So after dinner we ran to Target and I forgot why but we finally get back to the hotel and try to get the kids to sleep.  That took forever to do so while they were "trying" to sleep, I was able to read more of my book before going to sleep around 11pm maybe.  "The Hubby" and I had this plan of waking up at 6:30am and I had a crappy nights sleep and I woke up to an alarm going off and not paying attention, since I was still very sleepy, I thought it was 6:30am when after I was all dressed and showered I was informed that it was now 6:15am and that breakfast was still a while off.  STUPID, STUPID!!!  Oh well, so the kids and I went to the lobby for breakfast and waited for "The Hubby" to take his shower and meet us there so we could find a good spot at the parade.

This being our first parade in over a few decades and the first with kids, we were totally unprepared.  We had nothing to entertain the kids with while we waited for an hour and a half, no chair or blankets, nothing.  We were getting really bored and I was ready to blow the whole thing off and then finally the parade started and we were in serious trouble.  "N" noticed that people in the parade were giving out candies, toys, water, etc and a lot of the time he was skipped but what made it worse was the fact that "O" was singled out quite a few times and that was not cool.  It was a trying day and a little warm.

So we went to lunch by where we parked the car and I swear I will never go back with kids.  The food was greasy, took forever and it really wasn't the cleanest.  Oh well it happens, after lunch we decided to go to Starbucks and grab a coffee for "The Hubby" and I tried a Chai Frappucchino, not a good idea for someone with a stoma.  It has been so long since I ordered a "coffee drink" that I forgot what a frappucchino was.  Pretty dumb huh?  Either way it was quite painful for me to drink so I wasted $3.?? and decided that I wouldn't do that again.

We get to the hotel and the cleaning lady came in after we got back.  "O" passed out and "N" refused to sleep so while he was being quiet, I read more of my book.  It was nice because "N" was quiet, "O" and "The Hubby" were sleeping and it was quiet.  I even had the air off and the window open, it was raining lightly and was really cool, very nice.

During this trip I found out that I am not able to eat onions anymore.  I had onion rings from the Altitude Bar and Grill in Flag and a little while later my stoma was hurting and then after the Chai it was burning more to the point where I was in a lot of pain.  The worst part was while we were at Basha's that my appliance gave out and it started spilling, luckily we were close to the hotel and I was able to fix it.  It only took 30 minutes and then having to go to the laundromat to clean the towels and pants that had poop all over them.

After the kids went to bed "The Hubby" and I ended up staying up and played Gin for a few hours before going to bed.  We were supposed to stay until Sunday but we woke up and left on Saturday morning.  Luckily we did because as we were packing, the toilet over flowed and there was water all over the bathroom floor.  Luckily it was clean water and not nasty pee water.  We tried to take pictures at the Scenic Overlook but the kids refused to listen so we ended up just driving straight home.  While we were up there, we did go to the Arts fair and we bought nine photos, 8-11x14 and 1-16x20 then after dropping off our gear we went to Michaels for the frames and hung them up.  Really "The Hubby" hung them and I was just there for support.  It was a rough but fun weekend and it will probably be the last one like that for a while.

My surgery has been scheduled now and I go in for my ileostomy reversal on August 7.  It'll be nice to not have the bag but at the same time be scary because right now the bag catches the gas and then I lose that security after it's gone. Oh well, it's either I have the bag the rest of my life and have to worry about the appliance giving out again or I can learn to live like a normal person again.  I'd rather live like a normal person because now I've been told not to really do a lot of abdominal work because I can get a hernia and that I should wait to start doing real ab work for six months.  I guess it's better to wait then have to deal with that, I've never had one and I don't want to start.

I woke up a little early today (6:30) and the kids were already going.  So after a little while of talking and while "The Hubby" was out running, I started my Yoga on the Wii Fit for the day with some step aerobics and running.  After the kids ate breakfast I decided that I wanted to go to the gym and in the way of saving gas and not walking there (since it's pretty hot out) I rode my bike there.  It was actually fun riding it there.  So I took it into the gym, stretched again for about five minutes and ran on the elliptical machine for about 25 minutes.  I didn't want to over do it since I'm just starting out and I also had to ride the bike back home.

I get home and "N" still hasn't finished cleaning his room so I have a quick chat with "O" and take my shower and so now here I am working on my sites.  BTW, if any of you visit Kids Eat For and notice that there isn't a deal that you know about, shoot me an email and we'll get that added.  It's kind of difficult for me to call all the restaurants across the US, remember that if you're going on vacation this summer, wouldn't it be nice to know where all the cheap places are to eat with kids?  Spread the love and help me help all parents with restaurants that have deals on kids food.  I don't care if they eat free, half off, free dessert, anything and everything is helpful.  I already had help from a nice woman in CO, and she's helping spread the love.

The other night I had a dream that the wild fires were heading for our house and I wasn't able to save my pictures for the kids, so with everything going on it's my goal to start working on scanning pictures as well as everything else so that way if we do have a wild fire near our house, which happened a few years ago, the actual pictures may be destroyed but at least I'll have them saved to the computer and that's way easier to grab than 15 boxes of pictures.

I also wanted to let you know that I am starting to train to run in 5/K races.  "The Hubby" did his this past weekend he ran his first 5/K race and ran it in 32 minutes, not bad considering he's been training at sea level and Flagstaff is around 7,005 feet above sea level.  He set out and accomplished his goal and that was finishing the race.  Now I'm beginning to run as well, it's going to take me sometime to get to a good pace.  I also don't run outside yet because it's hot and I don't want to feel my bag splashing around and stuff.  So I'm starting to train now so I can really be starting the street running after my surgery.

To me it's better than nothing.  Yeah I looked a little funny riding my bike to the gym, walking it inside, running on the elliptical machine then riding the bike home.  I don't care, it's too hot for me to be messing around outside.  But I feel a lot better and later tonight I'm going to do some more yoga on the Wii.  But the reason for this part of the blog is because if we can get someone to come out for New Year's, my goal is to be able to run in the Midnight Madness race.  The reason why we need someone to help is because it's in Tempe and with it being New Years, not really safe to be driving since the sign in for the race is at 10:30pm.  We would end up spending the night down there and coming back the next day.

We are going back up to Flag on Thursday for the holiday but have found out that they have stopped having fireworks forever, wildfire hazard.  But there are a ton of other things to do with the kids like an art fair, laser show (I think in place of the fireworks), movie in the park.  The art fair to sounds like the Festival of the Arts in Grand Rapids, MI and I always loved going to that.  Fun, food, art and kids stuff.  Plus it's a lot cooler up there than it is down here and since we'll be in Chicago next year, the kids can see fireworks then.