New Years Eve

Another long weekend is upon us and I have been reading up on whooping cough. I can't believe the doctors aren't taking me seriously. I'm going again today and I will insist that they take me seriously and do something! Before I go, I find out that there are a few kids who go to the same Dr.'s office as I do who have confirmed cases of whooping cough. So why they didn't they advise me of this????

The doctor treated us like poop.She finally admits we have whooping cough. Actually she just doesn't deny it. I asked her if there was anything I can do for my children and she said "Yeah. They're called vaccinations". When I reminded her about her other patient who is up to date on his vacinnations and still got this, as well as my oldest child who was vacinatted and still has it, she got really irritated and ended the visit quickly. The Dr. we normally have seen for the last 10 years has been pushed out of this particular practice because he supports parents rights to choose how to treat there own children. Thank God he opens the doors of his own pratice on January 4th. How will we survive till then? Since he is such a wonderful doctor he is advising and encouraging me via email.

December 29th

Saw another doctor today. He insists the kids "look and sound good". He says they just have a bad cough. We stopped the antibiotics today. The sun is going down and my heart starts pounding.

December 28th

This was probably the worst night of all. The past few days she has started whooping with her coughs and last night I almost brought her to the emergency room since she was coughing up blood and I think she went unconscious at one point after a long whooping session. The nurse on call told me it's probably fine and to just make an appointment in the morning. We are all exhausted and my heart feels like someone has ripped it from my chest. At this point I know it's whooping cough.

December 25th

My youngest starts coughing so hard that she throws up. This cough sounds like nothing I've ever heard. Merry Christmas.

December 23rd

Rocking Horse Ranch wonderful. The kids cold turns into a pretty lousy sounding cough. I decide to take them to the Doctor. Especially since we have a long weekend ahead. The Dr. down the street puts them on antibiotics and cough syrup. I can tell he doesn't believe me about the severity of the cough. Especially since they didn't make a peep during the visit. The visit cost me $100 per child.

Pertussis (Whooping Cough)

December 18th 2009.

It all started with mild cold symptoms progressing throughout this week. Nothing we were going to let ruin our Holiday vacation. In 2 days we will be at Rocking Horse Ranch for a family Christmas getaway.

It's been awhile

Well, I haven't been blogging at all lately. Who has the time? Husband and I have been full force with our businesses. Anew Cleaning is official now and Ulster Computers is kickin' too. With just a little bit of effort, has come a good amount of work. Too bad we have the 9-5 job standing in the way.

Homeschooling is going to be the biggest challenge ever this year. All 4 of them are school age now. I haven't even finished choosing all my curriculum's for this year yet. Yicks. Throw on top of that babysitting 2 extra kids all summer and I've made a soup of constant busy.

That's O.K. That's actually how I like it.

Best Meatloaf Recipe

Growing up I wasn't fond of meatloaf so I've only made it a handful of times. I must say that it has grown on me. Here's my favorite recipe. Try it. You and your family will not be dissapointed.

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 3/4 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 cup finely crushed saltine cracker crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 5x9 inch loaf pan.
2. Press the brown sugar in the bottom of the prepared loaf pan and spread the ketchup over the sugar.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix thoroughly all remaining ingredients and shape into a loaf. Place on top of the ketchup.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour or until juices are clear.

ENJOY!

Party idea for your pre-teen to teenage son

If you live near woods (or know someone who will let you use their woods) I'd like to suggest a paintball party. We have a few guns and our local hobby shop rents paint equipment.We are going to set up a capture the flag paintball game for my son's 12th birthday. I'm even looking forward to it!

P.S. Party went great. Only one out of the group ended up with a bloody welt and that was dad.:)

Mile high laundry

There are 6 of us in this house. Laundry for 6 people is a part time job in itself. I would need at least 2 hours a day of laundry duty in order to stay on top of my laundry. Who the heck wants to devote so much time to something whose only financial gain is some occasional loose change! In the past year I have pushed this job off on my 2 oldest. Lately they are really slacking but, I don't have the heart to lay in on them too hard since I can totally relate to the hopelessness of the job. So, today is going to be laundry catch-up day. Somewhere between my appointment with the small business resource guy, piano lessons, getting my neighbors child off the school bus and karate I am going to do my best to bang it out! Look out laundry...here I come.

Uncool is contagious. Be afraid. Be very, very afraid.

If you had told me when I was 20 years old where and who I'd be in 13 years I probably would have rolled my eyes and written you off as completely insane. Back then I was a self proclaimed Buddhist with a love for eccentricity. I didn't shave my legs, eat meat, or buy brand name clothes. I was one of the coolest ...well, whatever I was...around. The last thing I ever wanted was what came next. 

I can still remember what it felt like after it happened and I realized that my friends were not being as open-minded as they once claimed to be. I now realize that those "free-spirited", "open-minded" individuals were never really who they had built themselves up to be. Which is exactly the way I was. You could have told me you believed in tree fairies and goblins and I would've listened with open ears but, when it came to the J word...you're a wackerjack.

An excerpt from Bob Dylan's, I Believe in You 

 ...They look at me and frown,
They'd like to drive me from this town,
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you.

I have since had to get used to being "uncool". That was the easy part. The hard part however, has been watching life long friends walk out of my life because of my faith. As if my new "uncool" might be contagious. Hmmmm. Now that I think of it, maybe it is ...

What's your secret?

• For sparkling windows-make a paste out of cornstarch, apply in a circular motion, wipe with a clean dry cloth. Perfecto