eBay

I'm so mad. I had a few listings this past week. They were all doing really well and with a few hours left, eBay cancelled one of my items because in my listing it said, "like new". They consider that spamming. I mean the item is almost brand new. How else would I have described it.... excellent used condition, barely used...come on. Anyhow, they said that that wording attracts buyers to a listing more than others. Am I missing something?? I thought the point of Ebay was to have people look at your stuff and if they like it, bid on it. In my opinion I did nothing wrong. I didn't know I couldn't use the words "like new" and that I was being bad. So I just want to let all my fellow blog readers know that if you sell on eBay don't use the words "Like new" or you listing will be cancelled. Now I feel better that I vented. Everyone have a great Sunday!

Welcome to sick land.......

Well it started on Saturday. We knew Dylan wasn't feeling that great, but little did we know it would cause me and Brianna to be sick too. I was sick all yesterday. I won't provide the details, but let's just say I had to have my mom come help with the kids because i was out of commission. I went to bed way early last night. Kalen is such a great guy. After working all day(which was a really long day for him) he took care of the kids so I could sleep. I think I went to bed at 6:30pm and didn't wake up till this morning. I am feeling a little better, just really weak and sore. I don't know why I'm so sore. Anyhow, Brianna walked into the front room and said she burped. That can mean two things....a plain burp or throw up. With my luck, guess what it was. The poor kid's bed was covered as well as herself. I didn't notice it, remember I was woken up, on her pjs. So I had to give her a bath and get everything cleaned up. As soon as I finished that, what do I hear.....Dylan screaming in his bed. What his problem was I don't know. I had to hold him for an hour on the couch for him to be quiet and Brianna cuddled right up next to me. So to say the least......we are doing nothing today. No therapies, no eating of solid foods, no nothing. I might get to scrapbook!!!! Yeah. Anyhow, I hope the rest of you are well. Anyone know of quick remedies?.............

Organic or not??????

Okay here's a question for all of our blog readers. We are trying to eat healthier and we are debating if we want to introduce organic foods into our diet. My question is how do you do it and what's good to eat. I doubt we would ever eat Tofu. Let me change that, Kalen won't eat Tofu. I'm not saying that I want to completely switch to organic foods, but I think there are benefits. We have seen studies that show that some of them don't have as much nutrients as the "regular" foods we eat. Just wondering?????? Please let me know if you know of any good links or stores. The only store I can think of is Whole Foods. But heard that it's expensive......... Any info would be great!

House update....there's progress!

On Friday the crew showed up. YEAH!!!!! We are using a different company this time. Much better to say the least. They showed up when they said they would and did an awesome job. So know the Master bath has been taken apart and is "air scrubbing". Whatever that means. We have machines in our house right now. Basically it sounds like my air conditioner is on. It's not that bad. So now that the bathroom is taken apart it can be put back together. We are so ecstatic. I was told 10 days to do the work. If we go with tile then a little longer, but 10 working days!!!! YEAH!!!!!! So the countdown will begin once the environmental clearance comes through. If anyone ever has mold found in their home, call me first. I would definitely recommend the company that we are using this time around. They are great and FAST!!!!!

No our tub isn't that dirty. The guy had already started taking drywall off.



Check back soon for the "after" photos.

Saturdays.......

Okay so everyday I hear Brianna's door open and the little pitter patter of her feet as she walks out into the front room to find me. (That's where our bed is at the moment. I'll catch you up on the house in a little bit) Well of course today is just another day to her, but to me it's SATURDAY!!!!!!! That means I try, operative try, to sleep in. Of course I fail every weekend. Either Brianna wakes up early (like today) or Dylan is at 5am. Well they both got me today, but Dylan went back to sleep.

Well since it's Saturday that means I have tons of errands and things to do that I can't normally do during the week. This past week, Brianna has mastered potty training. She has been doing a great job. Of course the candy is helping:) We even went to gymnastics without a diaper and no accidents. I can get use to this. She has even woken up from the middle of her nap to say she "needs to go potty". YEAH!!!! I thought this day would never come. We haven't experience it yet with Dylan and we don't know if we ever will, so this is super exciting for me. Only one set of diapers to change.

I wasn't totally prepared when we started potty training just a few days ago. I only had gotten 3 pairs of gerber training pants. I kept telling myself that on Saturday I would go so Brianna and I headed out this morning to pick out her panties. Of course she wanted ELMO, Dora, Princesses, and I can't remember what else. Well we ended up with Elmo and then some little girly ones. She was so excited when she got home. I wanted to take a pic but didn't want someone saying I took an inappropriate photo, if you know what I mean. So anyhow........our little girl is growing up.

Since she is growing up, Kalen and I needed to decide where to have Brianna go for preschool. There a little options, that don't require parent participation and parent meetings. Not that I won't be involved with her classroom and education, but right now we have 3-4 things a day for Dylan and don't know where I can fit in a weekly meeting as well as helping on a set day in the classroom. So we have decided to have her go to the Preschool Program through the local Parks & Rec District. Cross your fingers that we get in!!!!! We register on June 2. My plan is to be there as soon as I can. The window opens at 8am, so I hope to be there by 7:30am, just to be safe.

Kalen needed to do yardwork today. So he was busy mowing the lawns and cutting down branches after a quick trip to Home Depot. Now he is off touring SMUD with the scouts.

Dylan has just been chilling today. Happy as ever. He did however, get his foot caught under the couch and cut it pretty bad. He didn't cry or anything. STRANGE???????

As for me..... I know you are all dying to know what I did besides going to Target and getting Brianna underwear, well..... I listed stuff on ebay. Yeah Ebay. We have way to much stuff in this house. It's amazing to me how long it takes though taking the pics, uploading, and listing the items. If you are interested in checking out what I have up here the link: http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZtopcreativechef hopefully it works for you. Here's another link just in case: http://myworld.ebay.com/topcreativechef

Anyhow I hope to have more stuff up soon.

Onto the next post!

Family Gathering -- minus Grandma and Grandpa

Brian, Lori, MaryEllen, and Henry came over last Monday evening to make a "Welcome Home" sign for Grandpa and Grandma. The kids had fun fingerpainting and coloring on the sign. Henry even made a handprint with the help of Lori. It's nice that they are so close. We wish that we would see them more and have more chances for the kids to play together since they are our kids only cousins at the moment. Here's some pics of last Monday........

Kyle, Kalen's brother, gave us this hat for Dylan after he was first born. It now finally fits him. Dylan actually tolerates the hat. He thought it was funny to wear it. What a funny kid!!!!!

One of our favorite cousins.... Superstar MaryEllen

Brian, Lori and Henry taking to make a handprint on the sign.

Brianna hard at work. She loves to color. What kid doesn't? Maybe she will be an "artist"!!!!

Brianna loves to play mommy and always wants to hol Henry whenever she sees him. It's so funny to watch her with him. She talks to him in a high squeaky voice. "Hi Henry".

The cousins, minus Dylan. I think he was chilling with Daddy. So cute!!!!! We are truly blessed.

Dylan's eating more solids again!!!!!!!

Yeah!!!!! With the help of Dylan's speech therapist, and Dylan growing up, he is now eating more solids. He now is eating chicken nuggets, of course chopped up, with ketchup and is loving it. We are so pleased with his progess is all areas of development. He is also back to his happy self. We found out that his acid reflux was out of control and two of his other meds were interacting so it was causing him to be extrememly irritable. Im sure it was frusterating to him since he wasn't able to get his point across what was wrong. We are very happy with the progess he is making:)

Behind Door #1

What do we have behind door #1 (our bedroom) Let's take a look..........

Well this is what the doorway to our bedroom looks like. It is contained at the moment. I think I need to go into mold abatement. They make such good money for doing nothing. My room still looks like this and it will be three weeks this upcoming Friday.

Where the carpet has been rolled back, and pad removed in this section since it was wet.

Don't you just love the floor decoration..........

One company is saying that the carpet has to be replaced. It's 2 month old carpet that is still leaving carpet lint all over the place.

Welcome to our house............

Awesome Website.......

Okay I found this through a link on Paloma's blog that she got from a friend. I LOVE it!!!! Not only does it show me how to do certain exercises for strength training but also has a calorie counter. I typed in Jamba Juice.... and let's just say I'll be asking for a kids cup:) Anyhow the site is http://caloriecount.about.com/. Check it out. I belong to gym but it's so hard to work it in to our crazy schedules, when they have childcare for Brianna and then find someone to watch Dylan. So we started walking and running the neighborhood. Is anyone up for a walk???????

A webcam!!!!!

I am such a dork!!! I get excited over the craziest things. My parents are staying with my cousin in France at the moment and we have been Instant Messaging each other while they have been on their trip. Where they are staying there is a webcam. Well today my brother and parents did a conference chat. I was the only one without a webcam. So what did I do.......my brother found me a decent one at Staples and I went and got it. I'm so excited to have them see us on Sunday. Brianna absolutely loves it. She is such a ham!!!!! Just curious, who else has a webcam? this is the one we got.

It's a Logitech Quick Cam Communicate STX.

Nothing too fancy......but it meets our needs. We love the fact that we can now stay in touch with family and friends now matter how far away they are!!!!!!!

Okay more info about moi!!!!!!!

The rules are:
1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then "tags" 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

What was I doing 10 years ago: okay...I have to think. I had graduated high and was trying to complete my first year at American River college. I was working at Vic's IGA and absolutely hated it, but hey it was a job. I had braces. Why I waited until I was almost 19 is beyond me. My boyfriend at the time was serving a mission for our church so I wasn't really actively dating anyone at that time.

What was I doing 5 years ago: Five years ago today, I was pregnant with Dylan. I can't believe how long ago that was. CRAZY!!!!! I"m sure Kalen and I were probably shopping for baby clothes or I was painting Dylan's room. I was working for the State of California at the Emergency Medical Services Authority. I made lots of great friends there. I was in the process of getting my child Care license so I could provide child care in my home so I could stay home with Dylan. What I was thinking I don't know, but I ended up watching some great kids.

Five things on my TO DO List for today:
1. Sometime take a nap because I had to get up in the middle of the night. Kalen left the TV on and Dylan woke up around 6am crying and is now sleeping in my bed snoring away.
2. Scrapbook...I haven't done that in months. I just have to find everything. Who knows where everything is the first pipe leak back in November.
3. Get supplies to make "welcome home" signs for my parents. They are coming home from their vacation from FRANCE. It's been three weeks. It's amazing how much we've missed them.
4. Clean or at least put the order back in order
5. Clean Dylan's room, since I had to empty my closet and all my clothes are in a huge pile on his bedroom floor.

Snacks I enjoy:
Jamba Juice!!!!!! Is that a snack????? I try to treat myself whenever I'm kid less or just have Brianna. I think I should open one that has a drive-thru for all us moms that have kids, special needs or not. Let's see what else...yogurt, apples, strawberries, wheat thins, and of course chocolate.

Things I would do if I was a billionaire: (not in any particular order)
1. Buy an accessible house for Dylan so I can give me a bath easier, nothing too fancy.
2. Put money in the bank for my kids.
3. Buy a new house for my parents right next door to us, since I know I am going to have to take care of them when they are older.
4. Buy an accessible van
5. Start an appropriate school program for Dylan and other kids like him
6. Open up a store of my own of some sorts.
7. Pay whatever debt we have left, which I can say we don't have really any. I"m not trying to brag. It just feels good.
8. Buy another house so Kalen's parents could live on the other side of us.
9. Buy all the neat things I could for Dylan that are considered special needs, that cost an arm and a leg.
10. Get Brianna a nice stash of whatever she wanted at the moment, but nothing to extravagant.
11. Invest for Kalen's retirement
12. PAY TAXES!!!!!!!
Three of my bad habits:
1. Nail biting
2. taking one spoonful of ice cream out of the container, before putting it away, and pretending it's not part of my serving:)
3. Not exercising. It's hard not having a running schedule. It was much easier when I had to train for a marathon.

Five places I've lived:
I haven't lived in 5 places so this is going to be a stretch.......
1. Heaven
2. My mommy's tummy
3. Our house on Thilow Court after I was born
4. the house I grew up in
5. and our current house.

All except for #1 have been in Sacramento, CA

Five jobs I've had:
1. A Newspaper delivery gal
2. A Crew Leader at KFC
3. A courtesy clerk, deli worker, and checker @ VIC's IGA (it's a grocery store)
4. A Student Assistant for the State @ EMSA
5. A MOM........nurse, driver, accountant, maid, cook, personal assistant, teacher, nurturer, and the list goes on and on and on.......

5 people I want to know more about (ie "tagged")

1. Beth Thompson
2. Crystal Jones
3. Paloma F.
4. Stacy Justinich
5. Leslie Johnson

I Got Tagged!!!!!

My friend Pamola "tagged" me a few months back, and I just haven't had a chance to answer the questions. So here we go........

1. Habit: ummm....let's see I put lotion on after I wash my hands every single time. Sometimes I think I'm OCD.

2: Goal: To lose the weight I gain while I was pregnant with Dylan. I can't believe that has been almost 5 years ago.

3: Random Fact: I don't know how random a fact this is but I hate surprises

4: Another Habit: I bites my fingernails. I've been trying to give this up for years, but can't. I do it when I'm bored or nervous

5: Another Goal: Start an appropriate school program for Dylan and other children with special needs. Who knows when I'll find the time to do this, let alone have the resources to.

6: Another Habit: I am anal about balancing my checkbook and making sure that every check or check debit purchase has been entered.

7. Another Fact: I love watching Jon & Kate plus 8 on TLC. It makes me feel like my life isn't as hectic as it could be. And am grateful that I am able to share my time with my kids.

8. Another Random Fact: I people watch, according to my husband. I guess I don't realize I do it.

9. Another Goal: I want to start something of my own....... I want to develop the gift of being super crafty or talented. I think a bakery or boutique would be awesome.

10. One last Random Fact: I've run the Lake Tahoe Marathon twice.

Who I would like to tag:
1. Stacie
2. Stacy Justinich
3. Nicole Fisher
4. Malissa Turner
5. Sheila Capell

Allright....I know I've been lame but read to get caught up......

OKAY......so I know I haven't posted since we have been back into our house. It's been crazy and you won't believe. We have a leak in our master bathroom shower and our bedroom is closed off so Kalen and I have to sleep out in one of the front rooms. Crazy!!!!!! anyhow....so let me get you caught up. I haven't posted in so looooooooonnnnnnngggggggg, that I forgot to publish the most recent photo first. Oh well so these are out of order, but I don't feel like going back and switching them. I do have more current photos, but this post is taking forever.




OUR EASTER FAMILY PIC 2008

My Kalen

My brother, Brian and my nephew, Henry during the Easter egg hunt

Brianna loved looking for eggs. We had an EAster egg hunt at Brian and Lori's and an Easter Egg Hunt.

Dylan just chilling. It was so sweet, Brianna shared some of her eggs with Dylan, all by herself without us even asking her to. she is such a sweetie.

Our pretty princess in her Easter Dress

She was so excited to find the Easter baskets when she woke up



Aunt Kaci and Uncle David came for a visit and brought brianna this kitty. She has given up baby bear and now "demands" kitty goes everywhere with us.

Kaci (Kalen sister), Kalen, Brianna, and David

Henry and Lori at our family dinner

Brian reading a book to Brianna

Always smiling Dylan



She got into a lot of trouble the night this pic was taken. She looks like an angel but way acting a completing different way.

Grandma and MaryEllen escaped to Brianna's room to read some books.

My sister-in-law is a consultant for UPPERCASE LIVING. It is such a unique company. The products that they sell are basically like rub on for you scrapbookers out there, but for you walls. crafts, etc..... This is what is over our bed in our room. It puts a smile on my face whenever I look at it. If you want my sister-in-laws info let me know and I'll pass it on.

This saying is on the wall above my kitchen window..........

Brianna making cookies for a Family Home Evening activity

Dylan enjoying his new yellow ball.

Me holding Henry at another family gathering.

Brianna found a baby and is now playing mommy

Brianna and Uncle Kyle. Kyle came for a visit and Brianna wasn't to thrilled about taking a picture with Kyle.

Dylan's "cool" mouse hat he made with his teacher.

He loved his hat

Can't remember why Kalen gave him money. Kalen thought this pic was hilarious.

Dylan getting his EEG done at home to see if he was having seizures. good news, he was seizure free during the test. The medicine is working!!!!

Can someone say conehead????????

Brianna and MaryEllen at Kalen's 30th birthday gathering

Happy 30th Brithday Kalen!!!!! He got lots of great gifts. I can't believe how old he is. He reminds me that I"m not that far behind.

He loves the Seahawks, so I got him this sweatshirt. He LOVES IT!!!!!!

Our Seattle SEAHAWKS cheerleader.....Thanks to grandma and grandpa Bjurstrom

Brianna reading Daddy's card or at least trying too...........

Dylan crashed on NEW YEArs EVE. He didn't make it.

She didn't make it either...... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Lori made Dylan and Brianna awesome stockings for Christmas. They are fabulous!!!!!!!

Brianna loved her snowman stocking.

Brotherly LOVE.........................

Making Christmas cookies at Grandma's house with Mommy. She loves cooking.

She insisted on using the mixer.

I thought this was a precious picture. She loved sitting at Great Grandma's little table and chairs

Brianna got a camera and absolutely loves it. She stills walks around the house telling everyone to say cheese.

Our Family picture that went out in our Christmas cards. If you read this and didn't get one that means I don't have your address. Please email me your info so you will be on the 2008 list.

Brianna starting gymnastics back in July and absolutely loves it. She loves jumping, climbing, rolling. It's her and my special time together. We go once a week.

I see you...

She loves to hang on the bar. She's our gymnast.

Getting her haircut, by her personal hairstylist, Grandpa

Hamming it up

Just being silly

Grandma and the Family Christmas tree

Brianna and Grandpa. Who doesn't love piggyback rides?

Grandpa, Kalen and Brian (a coworker of Kalen's) helped scraped the popcorn ceiling off in the family room. My dad and I did the rest of the house. Man is it a lot of work. And it makes a mess.

Kalen being safe

Dylan chilling at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

Kalen spoils Brianna with chocolate milshakes. She loves them. That might even be an understatement.

The master bathroom torn apart back in December

the hall bathroom

our bedroom. My closet and wall that the tv is in front of, for those of you that have been in my room

My lovely kitchen. You could see through the whole house while standing in the kitchen.

Would you want to live here?????????? My kitchen.

Attack of Brianna and sticky notes...... What a way to wake up

Boy, is she curious. We couldn't stop laughing when she walked out of grandma's office

Stephanie and I after the Run to Feed the Hungry race. She did the 5k and I did the 10k.

Before the race. It was cold............... BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

This is what my house looked like on November first when we pulled out the stoved and touched the wall. It crumbled away.

The pipes that caused all the problems...........