Life is a Runway

Crossroads' Womens Ministry decided to put on a Runway Event where any woman could be the star of the show. I thought it would be fun to go as Carmen Miranda. Just the thought of wearing a basket of fruit on my head made it fun. Well that was before I found out that my Mom2Mom group and would have a bigger role in the whole event. No worries...what's the big deal.

So off to my neice's apartment in L.A. I went to have her magically alter my thrift store bought clothes into flamboyant calypso style. Within an hour while I made my necklace and earrings, Anna transformed my sleeves, ruffled me up and even made little ruffled wristlets. Wow! Way to go Anna! I swear she's the next Vera Wang. I had already made the hat with tons of hot glue and styrofoam fruit. Took me a couple of weeks to find bananas. I could not go without bananas....that would have been completely pointless.

Well remember the bigger role I mentioned my Mom2Mom group had? I ended up having to do a costume change in order to walk down the runway a second time with my partner in crime, Hollis. We coordinated the Friday Mom2Mom group last year. You can't see my feet but I added little boa pieces to my heels. They looked like those "naughty" slippers they sell at Fredericks. Oh my! I'm not sure if it was the heels or the basket of fruit on my head but I am now under chiropractic care. Yikes! How did Carmen do it?!?

Here's to most of the Coordinators of Mom2Mom 2008-2009. We pulled off one heck of a good show for 300 plus women and had fun while doing it all. Funny to see us all dressed up....usually we run around looking like crazy moms with our kids in tow. Funny thing now is when I meet new women and invite them to join Mom2Mom or Ignite at church they end up saying "Oh! You're the one who wore that outfit!" You'd think that the news reporters actually covered our event. Well Mom didn't raise a wall flower, did she?

Sleep Study

Well after going in to hear the results of Charlotte's sleep test...I lost it. Sleep apnea has about 25 to 30 symptoms such as headaches, snoring, teeth grinding, hypertension, acid reflux, weight gain, sweating, irregular heartbeat, any kind of sleep disturbance (talking, walking, sitting, standing) and getting up to pee at night. After Dr. DeSilva realized that Charlotte and I were related (I don't know how he missed that one) he took a look at me and told me to get our whole family checked out. So I was blessed to get tested for free due to lack of medical insurance. They allowed the boys to come sleep over as well so they would know where I was and feel comfortable with what I was going through. Here they are watching me get wired up. They basically just laughed at me when I was done.

So I went in that night to be tested. Wow! Nothing like being wired for everything and expect to sleep with all those wires! I felt like I was under the care of Dr. Frankenstein. The wires do a 100 point sleep test. They test eye movement, leg movement, heart rate, dream patterns, oxygenation, snoring, teeth grinding, talking, etc. After I got into bed I was afraid to move thinking I'd pull an electrode off somewhere. I was amazed that I got a good night's sleep. Thankfully I didn't have to get up to pee in the night. That would have been a problem!

The next morning I felt like I'd been hit by a truck. I went home and slept another 4 hours. Kind of weird seeing how I "thought" I got a good night's sleep.

So back to the clinic I went for the second night of testing...with a very lovely mask! Don't you just wish you had one? Actually its not as bad as it looks and it is quite comfortable. I felt that I slept worse but according to the test results I actually slept better. So weird how the brain works. My apnea is during my dream cycles and its slight to moderate. Charlotte on the other hand has severe-severe apnea. She stopped breathing every 30 seconds...that's 120 times in an hour! I'm glad that I forced her to be tested. I cannot afford to have another death in our home with the boys. I don't think I could handle that again or have them deal with that again either. So now after a few week of sleeping with the mask I'm starting to feel better. Dr. DeSilva said that once you're on the mask for about 6 weeks your body actually becomes addicted to it and you can't sleep without it. I don't think I would even consider sleeping without it now that I know I have apnea. That would be irresponsible on my part as a single parent. I encourage all of you who have any of the above mentioned symptoms...please sacrifice a weekend of sleep and get tested. Your life depends on it.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

Jeff's grandfather, Daddy Boy, just celebrated his 97th birthday on May 8th. This man is amazing! If I knew how he stayed looking so young I'd bottle it up and make millions.

The first time I heard Jeff mention him I thought "Who would have such a crazy name as Daddy Boy?" Well now its just so second nature to call him that that I forget what his real name is....Wilton Fairless Hale.

Daddy Boy is like a walking encyclopedia and newspaper all wrapped up. He has probably read thousands of books (wonder where Jeff got that trait from?) and just knows about anything past and current.

Back when he found out we were expecting Isaac he started researching names for us and came up with Samb...yeah, I can see that now...Samb Lamb. Isaac is so grateful for his name!

Here's to many more birthdays Daddy Boy!

Pi Day 2009 - The One to Remember

We celebrated Pi Day 2009 at Jeff's school, Murrieta Valley High on March 13. The school did this in memory of Jeff. The students set up booths of fun things to do like Pie Throwing, Musical Chairs, Pi Memorization, etc. The obvious favorite hands-down was the Pie Throwing, where $3 bought you a paper plate filled with whipped cream and you could pick which teacher or administrator you'd like to tag. The "lamb" artwork for the stage was taken from a candy jar that Jeff's mom, Pinki, painted for us. I would always send candy to Jeff's students after all the holidays. Lord knows we didn't need to eat it! And they loved it!

Here is Isaac patiently waiting for Dean Nielsen to show up so he could get him with some whipped cream.

I was able to toss a few dozen keychains to the general population of students while they waited for their turn at throwing pies. These keychains I had made specifically for Jeff's students and colleages as a keepsake. They seemed to be well received.

Isaac finally got his turn at Dean, who by the way, never signed up to do this part of the event. Thanks Dean for making my son's day! You're a great sport!

The school surprised us with not only a wonderful gift of a wheelbarrow full of plants, potting soil, shovel, gloves, and a shade tree but with the proceeds of the event! They covered our mortgage for the following month. Thank you all for all your hard work and support. You guys rock!

Happy Easter!

Look what we found in an Easter basket this year! It's Dexter! Cody and Dexter were able to join us for Easter this year as well as Mike and Shannon Stowe, Janee and her kids, and Peggy. We had a blast. Nothing like trying to take on a new role of cook when you really don't know how to pull it off. The secret? Just fake it and pretend you know what you are doing! It seemed to work pretty well. No one starved or complained about the food. Yay!


This year we did our egg hunt Mondello-style...that is adults as well as kids hunt for eggs. Everyone got 2 eggs with their names on them and then had to find 12 more eggs. We also added 3 golden eggs to the mix. The lucky winners of the golden eggs were Maxwell ($5), Hope ($10), and Cody ($20). It was a little challenging hiding the eggs seeing how we had to use the front yard. Not too many bushes but lots of pots, bricks, the Pack Rat, and trailer to hide them around. Peggy did a great job of hiding all 176 eggs!

The best part about doing this was that Mike and Shannon hadn't egg hunted in about 40 years! Mike's orange carrot was under the corner of the Pack Rat storage container between him and Alex in this photo. Shannon had to ask Charlotte for help in finding her eggs. She was actually standing over one when she asked. Hee hee!

Alex got an additional "egg" of sorts. He decided to climb out my patio door (a 4 foot drop because the patio decking was being replaced), tripped, and hit his forehead on a brick. I had to call and let Michelle know that he might look a little battered. Nothing like an goose egg to make photos look great!

The Ugly Toe Saga

Okay, let's start off by saying that I am probably one of the most oblivious mothers out there. Ever since Maxwell could put his toe in his mouth there it was. He never needed a pacifier, he had his toe. He has been chewing on this particular toe since he was about 1 or so and developed a callous on it. The nail never grew quite right because he never let it. So after a while we decided to call it "the ugly toe". One day last summer I was having a pedicure and he was sitting there chewing on his ugly toe as he does and I made a comment about it to the nail girl. She takes one look at it and tells me that it is not a callous, as Jeff and I thought, but it was a wart. I about died! Here I am thinking it was a callous for 3 years now and it never dawned on me that it was a wart. Can we say "Eeewww!?!"

So in August we head off to the dermatologist. She looks and it and confirms that (1) I'm a complete moron, (2) it is definitely one of the biggest toe warts she has seen on a child and (3) she is very surprised that Max did not have warts in his mouth from chewing on it. Yuck!!!! So treatment begins. First we tried the simple stuff...some ointment twice a day. Nothing. Then we try something stronger...super strength Compound W stuff. Nothing. Next we try trimming off the top layer of wart. Nothing except a little blood. Now she takes off her kid gloves and brings out the big freeze ray gun. Nothing. Well that is except Maxwell screaming his head off. Poor guy! And the best (or worst) part from freezing it? It spread! Now we have three little warts and one humongous ugly toe wart with a valley in it. Each side of it could do battle now!

We at least had some comic relief in the office while waiting. I think the ointments made Maxwell's head grow or the freeze ray gun did. Either way I laugh hysterically whenever I see this photo. Reminds me of The Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man". This magnifying glass made going to the dermatologist bearable.

So after Jeff passed and so did our insurance, I decided to save money and try a home remedy. Duct tape. Let me tell you...this stuff fixes everything! Besides the fact that you can make wallets, push-up bras, prom dresses and tuxedos out of this wonderful product...it also removes warts! Yes! It's true! After a week of suffocating the wart and it's little friends that decided to pop up on other toes and fingers, the wart is gone! Yay! The ugly toe is now called "Mr. Clean". Thankfully the wart did not spread to Maxwell's mouth. That could have been fatal.

February 8, 2009

Today we lost Jeff unexpectedly to Jesus. We will greatly miss him, his humor, his laugh, his quietness, his wisdom and most of all his love.

He was our life. I am forever indebted to his friend and mentor, Mike Stowe, for witnessing to Jeff the love of Christ and hope of heaven. I only found out the day before his service that he had accepted Christ. Knowing this has made everything bearable and I feel that I can now carry on knowing I will see him again.

Reflecting on the past 20 years with him has been both joyful and tearful. I have now been given the responsibility to continue his legacy, his dreams for the boys and his memory. I only hope and pray that God will give me the strength and ability to do that.

We miss you so much and can't wait to meet up with you again!