FIRST game of the season!!

Gage has been so excited for today. He is playing in two leagues this fall..the regular league he has always been in and also a competitive travel league. Today was his first game at the Field of Dreams. Last night he came in our room and woke us up because he wanted to take some Tylenol PM. He was so excited he couldn't sleep! Of course I said "absolutely not"! When he woke up this morning he said he didn't sleep all night and to top it off I could tell he was sick. He was congested and coughing. He kept telling me he was fine and he didn't feel sick at all. I'm not stupid, however, and I know a sick kid when I see one. Finally he said "Mom, do I still get to play if I'm sick?" I told him that he could if he wanted to so he admitted that he was indeed not feeling good. I made him rest all morning and then gave him some medicine right before we left for the games (he had back to back games today). Right after I gave it to him I realized that I had done a not-so-smart thing in giving him medicine that would make him REALLY drowsy an hour before he had to pitch in the opening game! Crap! He pitched well at first but then you could tell something was wrong. He was moving really slow and I KNEW he was probably feeling pretty loopy out there. I feel so bad! I was only trying to help! Joey was appalled at me. Sorry! Geez! The coach pulled him out and let him rest a couple innings which was good. The Field of Dreams (is that what it's called?) is really nice. They have indoor seating with air conditioning (wonderful) and a snack bar (awful.. because it's a rip off...so expensive...plus they have Diet Pepsi instead of Diet Coke!) and an arcade to keep the kids busy. It's way different than sitting out in the heat on the burning hot bleachers like we're used to! My mom and dad and Tia came to support Gage. They all got a good laugh out of my misjudgement with the cold medicine. Ha Ha. I get it. I'm retarded.

Does anyone have some PROZAC that I could borrow?

No. I'm not joking. I feel a full blown panic attack coming on! Today I went down to the school to purchase my textbooks for the Nursing program. There was a really nice man in the bookstore that helped me find all my books. As he was loading book after book onto the cart I asked him "So are these all the books I need for the WHOLE Nursing Program?" He just gave me a smile and a look of pity and explained that these were the books for Block 1 and that there were other books for Blocks 2,3 and 4. I could feel myself starting to sweat and my hands started to shake. I played it cool like...no big deal. I can read all these humongous books and comprehend all the concepts in four months. No sweat. He had to walk me out to the car with the cart because they were SO heavy. How am I supposed to get them all to class? I'm going to have to load them into a rolling suitcase to get from the car to the classroom! I'm losing it today. I don't know what the heck I am doing! Why am I putting myself through this?! It seemed like a good idea at the time...years ago when I decided to become a nurse! Now I'm feeling completely overwhelmed and STRESSED! I have total guilt...I just spent $800 on BOOKS! For the FIRST semester! Not to mention all the other money that has gone into this dream of mine....let's see...there was this semesters tuition...$950...I had to get CPR certified...$25...I had to get fingerprinted...$80..I had to have a complete physical and immunizations and drug tested...about $500...I had to buy a Nurse Pack (gloves, syringes, ect.)...$80...I had to by the uniform (which included these ugly white clog shoes!)...$250...I had to take an exam to just APPLY to the program...$25...and then there all all the pre-requisite classes and books that I have had to pay for over the years...I don't even know how much was spent but it was thousands! Especially since they kept changing the pre-req requirements. And I still have to pay for the next three semesters too! GUILT! Especially because Gage needs braces and we could be saving for missions and college educations and adding on to our house (which is SO needed). I wonder if I am doing the right thing here. Or am I being completely selfish. My kids are still little and I'm going to be taking my focus off them and turning it onto getting through with school. Avery has been begging me for months to put her in dance classes but I've been putting her off...I'm not going to have time!!! What kind of mother is that for ya!? When I was driving home from the bookstore I had to call Joey who calmed me down and reminded me to look at the big picture. Thank goodness he has faith in me and thinks I'm "the smartest person he knows." Cause I glanced through some of the books and am feeling pretty stupid right about now. He fully supports this or else there is no way I could do it. Plus I've got great family and friends willing to help out and babysit and run kids around to different activities and whatnot. Sheesh. I don't know why I'm whining.. But I feel better for venting!

Road Trip!

Justin, Mindy, Tia and myself had to go to Idaho this week to paint a door. Most of my peeps already know that my sisters and I do faux finishing on custom made iron doors. Justin sells them. We paint them. We've been doing this over two years. We've had to go to far away lands like Heber and Showlow, Arizona to paint doors but never as far away as Idaho. I personally have never been to Idaho so it was an adventure. Road trips can be fun but especially long road trips can be torture. Nevertheless, I learned a lot of things on this trip...

I learned....

1. Swedish Fish claim to be "A Fat Free Food". This doesn't mean that you can consume an enormous portion of them and then proceed to sit and do NOTHING for hours and hours and not actually get fat. (My painting jeans were fitting a little snug when we finally arrived in Idaho.)

2. Mindy doesn't feel comfortable on a journey unless she has an Atlas within easy reach in which she can track our progress.

3. When starving, Justin can survive on sugar packets.

4. Idaho sells live bait from vending machines! That's just weird to me. Is that weird to anyone else?

5. When Mindy says she's going to share a large order of french fries with you what she really means is she will eat one or two and let you eat the rest because she doesn't like french fries. You think you know someone!

6. According to Mindy, I'm a good traveling partner. We spent many, many hours together in the back seat of the truck. She enjoyed the fact that I keep my space organized and litter free. You're welcome.

7. I'm too retarded to make waffles. The homeowners (of the door) put us up in a hotel that had the BEST waffles for breakfast. You had to make them yourself which seems easy enough until I made the biggest mess of it. Oops... they were SO GOOD!

8. Costa Vida is delicious. Unless you find a feather in your salad. Then it sucks. After painting until 9:00 p.m. one night we decided to eat at Costa Vida. It was tasting like a dream until poor Tia discovered a feather in her salad. I tried to keep eating my salad and ignore her find but it was hard because she kept poking at it and examining it. Pretty soon we all lost our appetite. I'm sure it's okay. Birds are pretty clean, right?

9. Mindy has to sit on the RIGHT side of the truck. I was happy to oblige. She started off on the left side but couldn't bear it.

10.I love the smell of tape! Oh wait. I already know that about myself. Mainly I enjoy Scotch tape but painters tape smells great too. Weird. I know. Sometimes I get caught sniffing tape. Whatever....we all have our issues.

BEFORE PIX:

AFTER PIX: (The faux finish doesn't show up too well in the picture. We did a bronze patina which turned out lovely.)

It was an exhausting four days but I finally got to see Idaho! We wanted to go river rafting while we were there but it wasn't meant to be....maybe next time!