Week one in Mountain Dew Rehab

I am a Mountain Dew ADDICT! Anyone that knows me well knows this fact. It's my thing! I have mtn dew jammie pants, t-shirt, drinking glasses, a collection of Americana bottles ( I think there is a picture of these on this blog!) um what else....oh a dew charm for my bracelet, Mtn dew lip gloss (can and bottle versions!!! Cool I know!!). Most of these have been gifts from those that know I am addicted and they all made me happy! As far as drinking the sweet goodness: I have one for Breakfast at work, one at lunch, one after work, one at dinner, one at bedtime, one when I am scrapbooking, one when I am watching a movie, one when Ron calls and says "do you want me to stop and get you one?", one when I am out to dinner, one when I am bored....and then I will probably have another one. One when one of my nice co-workers would leave one on my desk, one when I was having a bad day and had to raid a co-workers stash. There is even Dew supplied at family parties because Mom and Lu buy it for me! (Thanks by the way!) How did I get here? My mom didn't keep pop in the house when we were young. I didn't really start "drinking" until I lived in New York and we were constantly running to the "sev" (that is Cynthia talk for 7-11) for Dr Pepper super big gulps. I think like any addiction, it was slow and unintentional. I Got married, starting eating out more, ordered the dew, started buying the 12 packs of cans at the store to keep in the house, stocked up on those when they were on sale, then found the bottles at Sam's club for a great deal and would stock up on those and it got to the point when there was never a time when the house was without the dew. I have even been late to work because I had to stop and get one. Do you think I have a problem??? Not only have I gained weight, I also have a heart condition and was cautioned about 4 years ago to quit the caffeine.....which of course I didn't. I am like a smoker that knows he should quit because its bad for him, but doesn't because he likes it. (why did I assume all smokers are "he's"??) So I FINALLY somehow made the decision to quit. I really don't know how I have been able to do this after being so addicted, but I am! It has now been a WHOLE WEEK! I know that doesn't sound like much, but going for more then a couple hours without one used to be impossible, so this is BIG! BUT HOLY COW what a HEADACHE I have had!!!!!! I don't get headaches much (hum....I wonder why?) but this just about did me in. Day one wasn't too bad, but I woke up at 5am on day 2 with a killer headache! Like bad enough to make me sick to my stomach. I came to work that morning after taking some ibuprofen and sat in my car in the parking lot for 1/2 hour before I came in just in case I was going to throw up. I didn't luckily, but that day didn't go well. Day 3 I woke up at 6 with another headache and with some good advise from Jenny I went out and got some excederin. Ahhhhh.....relief. Okay so one dose has the same amount of caffeine as a cup of coffee, BUT at least I wasn't giving in to someone elses advice (ANGEL) about just going and getting a dew! Every day since then has been a little easier. I have only had to take the excederin once more. I can't imagine what it must be like to get over a much harder addiction like drugs, smoking, etc. Congrats to those that can! Ron is quitting with me. He is a fan of Pepsi. It's too bad that now the Pepsi Co sales at the Clinton Walmart are going to drop. Oh well. So now I drink Water........I miss the BURN of the carbonation and the yummyness and the short stints of energy, but most of all I am sad that I won't get to make this Christmas Tree this year: JK!!!

I am on day 2 of a Mountain Dew detox. This is how I feel. I will keep you informed...

I'm old

I recently found out (through the magic of facebook) that one of the girls I was a nanny for back in the day (91-92) is married!!!!!!! UGH how old does that make me feel???

Then: The Ajodan Family. Henry, Susan, Sofia, Rebecca and Me (with my ginormous eyeglasses and big hair) at Henry's brothers wedding in New York.

Now: Rebecca's Wedding sometime in 2008.

I loved these girls! I wanted to bring them home with me and teach them about Jesus. Henry was from Iran and they are Jewish. It was a very educational year and a 1/2 for me living with a Jewish family, but it was fun.

Coraline, Watangi Day and a 4 car accident in the driveway.

Friday started off pretty good. I wasn't late for work, in fact I think I was even a little early!!!! WOW! I had my hours for the week by 2:30ish so I had to leave early....always nice!!! I decided to take the kids to see Coraline since they had been asking me to go. I let Ron get some much needed sleep and made my mom come with us. What a weird show. I knew it would be strange from the previews but it was a little too strange, a little too scary for Hannah and A LOT inappropriate in some places. For those of you who may have seen it, you probably know what I am talking about. A certain older lady who was very well endowed wears nothing but pasties in one scene! What the....? IS this supposed to be a kids show? Why do they always throw in that kind of adult humor? Usually its just dialog that the kids miss but oh the kids in the theater were not missing this! Every kid was yelling "GROSS!" including mine. So after that my mom watched the kids for Ron and I so we could go out to dinner....alone! Nice again. We went to Bajios and I introduced Ron to the Bajios Quesidilla (yes Brandi I did!!!) It was also Watangi Day. What is that? I don't know and neither did Ron and his mission companion back when they were serving in Texas so they created their own tradition for it. For them its a day to eat ice cream, real creative huh? So after dinner we had to go to Jake's for a shake. While eating them and driving home we got an interesting phone call from his sister Sally informing us that his truck (which was parked in his mom's driveway) had been hit by another car! Oh CRAP! Just what we need! But even better then that is what else happened!!!
Ron's parents home is in Hooper right after 4000 S curves and turns into 5900 W . An older lady in a grey mini van didn't quit make it around the curve. She went off the road, taking street signs with her, into their field heading toward the house. She went for a while, ending up in their front yard, took out their metal flag pole in the middle of the yard, hit Ron's brothers red car totalling it, pushing it into the garage which took off the brick and knocked it off the footings, also ran into their white mini van denting the side a little and breaking tail lights then ended at Ron's truck. The corner of her car is right at Ron's tire so I am not sure if the truck stopped her or if she was already slowing down enough to stop at that point. Luckily it really didn't do much to Ron's truck, but the red car is pretty bad and we were banned from going back in the garage by the cops until a home inspector could come check it out. I don't know for sure if she just lost control or what. Those that were in the house heard the noises then felt the whole house shake. This happened once before over 20 years when Ron was younger. Some kids going WAY too fast around the curve ended up slamming into the side of their house!!!! I think its time for a fence. What is good is that no one was hurt, even the driver. She could have hit the power poles which are close to the street signs she took out or hit the head gate to the irrigation system which is cement! Her air bag didn't even go off! She was pretty lucky..... but I don't think she will be driving much in the future......

Flag pole

Some of Ron's family and the cops. Where they are standing is where the red car WAS parked.

CSI even showed up! How exciting!

TIMES are changing.....

I have been working full time 8:30-5 since Ron changed jobs over a year ago and I HATE IT!!! I used to work just until 2:30 which was great! I was there when the kids got home from school, I had time to make dinner, it was still light outside when I got home, I was more in tune with the kids and their needs like homework, I could actually visit with my neighbors, etc. So for the past year I have felt SO MUCH more unorganized, stressed, like a bad mom because I don't remember about homework and scouts, I never make dinner since its usually 6 when I get home and kiss Ron goodbye as he runs out the door for work. UGH!!! Anyway, after many days of coming to work late (because Ron was late getting home from work) I finally (well okay with some encouragement from Kellie!!!) talked to my boss about cutting back on my hours. With Brandi gone, it totally sucks being there for 8 hours anyway! So after getting through all the bosses boss and HR red tape I was able to do that. These are my new hours: 9-4. On Friday 9-3:30. I am considered part time now, which means I can't go over 31ish hours and I only get 1/2 the leave time I was getting before. Its okay, I think my sanity is worth it. So the only thing better then cutting back at work would be being able to quit. That is not going to happen any time soon with my bills, so this will do for now. For all you stay at home moms: Be SOOOOO grateful that you get to be home! I know its not easy talking to babies all day, but you are really lucky! If I could go back in time to when Ron and I first had kids I would have done things differently. Oh well....I have an extra hour a day now and that makes me happy, its amazing how much that one hour effects my day.

Hannah and Grandpa Mike

My dad took the kids out to lunch on Saturday. Ron's nieces and nephews had spent the night so he took them too. He is an awesome Grandpa and the kids love when he and Grandma Lu spend time with them. Thanks Daddy!