What's up in our world

When I was a teacher, I made my leadership students keep a journal. Some days, I had a structured topic. I asked a question, read a poem, had them listen to a song, or watched a video clip to prompt their writing. But, what they loved the most, was the free topic of "What's Up in Your World?" letting them share whatever on their mind or recent things going on with them. Here's a little of what's up in our world...

Andrew--well, the man that is allergic to all things around him is continuing to have his twice weekly allergy shots. It's helping, I think. At least, he's still going so it must be doing something. His food allergies are unique in that his body processes them like a seasonal allergy. He is allergic to all raw vegetables, fruit, and nuts. He can't eat a tomato, but spaghetti is no issue. It's weird I tell you.

Things are pretty good with Andrew. He had to work through the night this weekend, which made for a really long Sunday for him. He went to work at 6:30pm Saturday night to take down all the servers and work on some issues and walked into our bedroom at 9:15am the next morning. Maggie and I made sure to be gone for the day, heading out on a girls day with Mom and Mom Mom to let Andrew rest. On Friday, he and our friend Mike went to "First Saturday." Picture a flea market for computer geeks happening at night under a random bridge in Dallas. Oh yeah, that's First Saturday. Mike and Andrew have been going for years as buyers. You never know what kind of deal you can find. For the last two months, Andrew has paid to have a space (which is literally a parking space) to sell some computer equipment. He stays until about 2am and then heads home after selling most of his stuff. I even profited for this month's sale, getting a little money for new clothes! I went once to First Saturday a few years ago. God willing, I will never have to go back!

Me--Work is life these days. I am working an average of 65 hours a week, on a good week. Last week was about that on a four day workweek, and this week won't be pretty at all. Luckily, I can do quite a bit after Maggie goes to bed. My mom is taking her tomorrow night while I go to make a presentation. That way, it isn't a night mom is away but a special date night for her with GaGa and Mom Mom. She LOVES when my mom picks her up!

Other than work? Hmmm.......let's see.....what is going on in my life? Gosh, not much.
Well, maybe a bit. We have our Posse annual BBQ at Jen's Saturday night and I can't WAIT! I haven't told Maggie yet because the idea of being around the babies, Katie, Lucy, AND her man Toots might just be more information than she can handle! I'm really forward to our get together to celebrate our friendship, drink to the success of our 5K (this weekend, hope you're going to be there!), and thank Allie for bringing us all together.

I recently picked up the Twilight series after the recommendation of Jen and Deb. I love to delve into a series of books or dedicate to reading one author at a time. In college, I read nothing but Toni Morrison until I felt I had read the majority of her works. Last year, it was Jodi Picoult, and I can tell you that this MONTH, it's Stephenie Myer with the Twilight books. I say this month because I read the first two of the series this past week and I'm already into book three. Yes, that is during my 65 hour work week! That should be a testament to how much I'm really enjoying this series. Something has to keep me busy until the next Harry Potter movie comes out (since the jerks pushed it from November to June or July and I'm so sad about it!!)

Maggie--oh, the diva. About a week or two ago, she came strutting into the living room naked. She ran her hands down her sides and said, "Look at my body!" Then she stroked her face and said, "Look at my face, I so pretty." Yep, I'm in trouble. She told me recently that she "really likes boys a lot" then preceeded to tell me the names of her FIVE, count them five, boyfriends. Luke, Larissa's son, competes for the number one slot with her man Toots (not his real name).

During our time away from the house on Sunday, we went to the mall with my mom and Mom Mom. We hit the Disney store to help the princess loving little girl make a decision on what costume she would like for Halloween. After I had to place her on the counter for the salesperson to scan her purchase, Cinderella fully dressed in her costume walked the entire mall! It's great when GaGa goes with us--she went home with the dress (bought by me) and the shoes, tiara, and "magic wand" (bought by my mom). One decked out little princess. Though the costume wasn't the cheapest, I have a feeling it is going to get plenty used. She has been alternating between Belle and Cinderella (Belle costume was from Izzy and is a size too big but don't tell Maggie that!) every night. She will do this for hours! Sunday night, she laid out all her costumes, including the ones from her dress up box, on the floor. She then went and got her princess dress up shoes from her closet and paired them up with the correct dress. Then, if she had the corresponding Barbie princess, she laid that on top of the outfit. She danced around and told us all about her costumes and the princesses she loves. This lasted for more than an hour--what entertainment!

Maggie's language is getting so developed! She is one smart little thing, and her verbal skills are definitely showing that off. Some of my favorite words she still says incorrectly are "lasterday" "goggie" and "Seesy Beesy," though she will say Sleeping Beauty if she is concentrating hard enough. My baby will be three soon and I can't believe it! She starts dance class at her school tomorrow and she is so excited.

Next week, we head to the allergist for allergy testing. She is getting a lot of sinus infections and has been struggling with allergy meds since she was an infant. When the pediatrician found out about her shellfish reaction, he decided it was time for us to go through the testing. We let her have a bite of my shrimp about a month ago to see if she really was allergic (had Andrew's epi-pen!). It was more than a year ago that she tried something, so we just weren't sure. She ate one bite of the BREADING, not the shrimp, and was covered in hives for more than 12 hours.

Brandy--that dog is in trouble right now! After spending two horrible weeks tortured with the cone on her head, she had her staples removed last week. We followed the doctor's instructions to keep the cone on for one more day to let the wound heal. We did and then took it off. So what happened? Damn dog knawed her leg raw! So, once again, she's a "buckethead." Andrew and I were so mad at her. She looks miserable that we forced the bucket back on her head, but it's her own darn fault.

Maggie likes to lean in, look into her cone, and yell, "Hi, buckethead!" We hate the cone. She has no spacial depth with the thing on. She runs into stuff, including our legs, and it hurts!

The good news is that her leg is healing really nicely. She is fairing a lot better this time then the last and it hasn't been unbearable. Andrew has been wonderful about walking her most of the time. With her leg the way it is, we decided we couldn't let her go to the groomer to get a haircut. But, oh, she needed it SO BAD! We bought dog clippers last week and decided we were going to do it ourselves. We're idiots. It took us more than an hour tonight to shave her and we're not done!! Now, she doesn't look too bad, but we need to go back and improve her undercoat. Let me tell you, it might have saved us $80 but phew, that was a lot of work! Maggie was alternating between climbing over me while I tried to restrain B or giving her "lobin" to calm the dog down.

Allie--of course, our world does and will always include our Allie. The four year anniversary of her death is this Saturday. She continues to help us do better and better with our 5K event, being held on Saturday. This year, we added online fundraising. It isn't a requirement to participate and never will be, but we decided to add it to allow individuals, teams, and families the opportunity to raise funds should they choose. Our original goal was $10,000 for online fundraising. When we hit $9,000 two weeks ago, we changed it to $15,000. As of five minutes ago, we're now up to $17,859 in online fundraising!! We are so excited. I love watching these numbers climb, thinking of the things I can do to help cancer families with this money. Thank you, Allie!!

I have always believed that Allie's presence is so strong. She speaks to me in ways of her own, reminding me she's around. So, this weekend after having spent time with Crys and Zack, Alexa's parents, and with her anniversary coming up, I had Allie heavy on my mind. So, it should be no suprise that to me that she once again reminded me of her presence on Sunday. At the restaurant during lunch, her song Wonder by Natalie Merchant came on. Faint though it was, I knew it right away and I stopped to listen. At the mall, about to leave, I went off to drive the car around so my grandmother wouldn't have to walk any further. We had just walked out of the Children's Place where a little girl, maybe four or five, was running and laughing by her mother. I thought of Allie. When I got quiet, I noticed that Wonder was playing on the mall sound system. Then, we headed to Target. What do you think was playing on the radio at Target? You guessed it--Wonder. That's my Allie.

Think I will leave you tonight with a little Wonder.